


I Like you a Whole Latte

by Alybalybee



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/F, Falling In Love, Fluffy Ending, Lesbian Character, Lesbian Sex, No Rewind Powers, No Storm in Arcadia Bay, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-10-04 13:31:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 55,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10279478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alybalybee/pseuds/Alybalybee
Summary: AU - Chloe is working at a coffee shop trying to get enough cash together to leave Arcadia and pursue her dreams.  However, Max starts working with her and might just put a spanner in the works of Chloe's grand plan.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this idea for this story bouncing around in my head for a while and I'm excited to get going on it. I'm going to try and keep this light and it will be Pricefield packed, also I've made it mature because as always...it's gonna get adult in here at some point. Also, I felt bad in my last fic that I made Rachel such a biatch so I'm taking a new route with her now - I also prefer her alive, so she is. Any feedback greatly appreciated, I hope you enjoy the first chapter. Oh and forgive my cringy title...I though it was punny...*cough cough* 
> 
> If you want to follow me - https://alybalyb.tumblr.com/
> 
> Fan Art Commission for this work by the fabulous melonbreadmondays - http://melonbreadmondays.tumblr.com/post/161680128017/fanart-commission-for-the-lovely-alybalybees
> 
> Please check out the lovely Fanart that VengeSim made for this story (ow my heart, so cute!) 
> 
> http://fav.me/db9qbjj AND (Because I am lucky enough to get two!) http://fav.me/dbafx85

“Chloe, what the fuck is that?” the dark haired man asked exasperated, standing behind the counter and rubbing his hand up and down his forehead.

“What?” Chloe looked around, pulled her shirt down in front of her to look for stains, checked the bottom of her feet, glanced from side to side and pretended that she couldn’t fathom what the man was talking about.

“Your. Hair. Is. Blue,” The man said, looking again aghast at the sight and making a point to emphasize every word.

“Oh that! Aww come on dude…”

“I’m not your ‘dude’ I’m your boss and you can’t serve people in this coffee shop with bright blue hair!” 

“Um have you checked out our clientele recently James?” Chloe said and stood with her arms raised, gesturing around the room. There were various cliche hipster and art student types scattered around the tables of the coffee shop making the most of the free wifi. 

James looked around the coffee shop and shook his head, “Whatever,” he started, raising his hands in defeat, “at least you’re actually here on time for a change.”

Chloe let out a shocked gasp and grabbed her chest like she had just been shot with an arrow, “James you’re killing me here man, I am nothing if not the most loyal and productive employee here.”

James stood and looked at Chloe with one eyebrow raised, “Well tonight is your chance to pass on all your wisdom and knowledge.”

Chloe walked behind the counter, throwing her apron on, “Please don’t tell me I’m on newbie duty?!” she exclaimed. She liked the late shift to herself, from 4pm until 11pm she could do as she pleased, chill and read or doodle to her hearts content. The last thing she needed was having to do actual work when she was at work. 

“Chloe you are on very thin ice after your ‘beauty school drop out’ makeover so please don’t give me any shit for this okay? She’s coming in at six, be informative and for god's sake be friendly,” James said as he handed her the keys and left the shop.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I’m a ray of fucking sunshine,” Chloe said when he was out the door and out of earshot. 

“Chloe, your hair!” she heard a voice behind her say. Rachel had appeared from the back of the shop, Chloe believed that Rachel was half the reason she still had her job here. James’ mad crush on her really helped when Rachel would give him the puppy dog eyes and explain that Chloe was the best friend she had ever had and she would be so upset if she wasn’t able to work here anymore. That had gotten Chloe out of a lot of sticky situations at her job.

Rachel came over and hugged Chloe tightly then pulled back running her hands through Chloe’s hair, “It is awesome!” she exclaimed, “How much sucking up do I have to do to the boss man because of this?” she asked, stepping back and placing a hand on her hip.

“Not sure yet, but be prepared for some mild damage control,” Chloe said with a wink.

“Chloe, you’re gonna end up losing your job here you know?” Rachel said and passed a brush to Chloe indicating that she was on sweeping duty.

Chloe sighed, took the brush and started cleaning up the shop floor, “Oh no what will I ever do when I'm not able to serve coffee every day? Oh yeah I know, do the job I actually want to do!”

“You need money for that Chloe, well paid tattoo artist apprentice jobs don’t usually pop-up in Arcadia.” 

“I know, I know…Mom.”

Rachel balled up a napkin and tossed it at her friends head causing Chloe to look up, scowling, “I’m serious Chlo,” she continued, “I know you’ve got your big dreams to get out of here and get noticed but you gotta start from the bottom. Being unemployed is much worse than the bottom. So please, for me, just try.” 

Chloe couldn’t resist Rachel’s concerned and doe-eyed expression, “Okay I’ll try, but the hair stays Blue!”

Rachel giggled, “Yup I wouldn’t expect anything less Price.”

“So what time you on til’?” Chloe asked, desperate for a change in the conversation.

“Six, then you have your new apprentice…don’t make her turn to the dark side!”

Chloe looked up again from her sweeping, “Star wars reference…really Rach?”

Rachel began wiping the counter and added, “I know this girl actually.”

“Yeah?”

“She goes to Blackwell. She’s a little shy, well a lot shy actually, but she seems nice.”

“Grrrreat,” Chloe said, “I hella bond with shy girls. Not.”

“Be nice Chloe, not everyone was born with your unrelenting confidence.”

“And agonizingly good looks, wit and charm?” Chloe asked, standing and leaning an elbow on the brush with a big grin on her face.

“If that’s what you call it.” Rachel jibed and Chloe flipped her the bird, “She’s really pretty,” Rachel continued, smirking and staring down at the counter while she wiped it.

Chloe came over to the counter and slammed her hands down, “Okay - now I’m interested.”

Rachel laughed, “I’m pretty sure she’s straight though.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, pushed herself off the counter and went back to her duties, “Figures.”

. . . . . .

Rachel was clock watching for the last ten minutes of her shift when she saw a familiar face walk in, “Max!” she exclaimed as the girl approached, looking nervously around and avoiding eye contact with Rachel.

“Hi Rachel,” she said, approaching the counter. She felt really uneasy in new places at the best of times and the thought of starting a job which involved working with people had terrified her, but she needed cash and at least she had been greeted by a semi-familiar face. Max and Rachel had exchanged a few words in class but they were short of anything close to friends.

‘Come on Max, time to be a grown up and not a shy dork,’ she thought and made eye contact with Rachel, smiling.

“Ready for your first shift?” she asked, trying to sound enthusiastic as she lifted the end of the counter for Max to step behind.

“As I’ll ever be,” Max replied and Rachel handed her an apron to put on.

“You can put your stuff through the back, there’s a few lockers in the staff area.”

Max smiled and went through to the back, it looked similar to the locker rooms at gym except with only a one bench and three lockers...and a blue haired leaning against them. Max ran her eyes up the girl, taking her appearance in - black combat boots, shredded jeans peaking out from under her apron and an intricate and beautiful tattoo down her right arm. She swallowed a little, unsure why she had began to blush profusely. With a gulp, Max walked over, clutching her apron and her bag to her chest, “Hi, I’m Max,” she said. 

Chloe pulled the magazine down to lock eyes with the girl and quirked an eyebrow at her, “Chloe,” she replied, “I’m done with my break now, I better…uh…” and then she pushed herself off the lockers with the foot she had been using the lean against them, tossed the magazine on the bench and walked back to the front of the shop leaving Max feeling a little flustered as she started putting her things in her locker. 

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ Chloe thought as she walked round to the front of the shop, ‘Stupid damn Rachel…pretty Rach? Pretty? A flower is pretty, a butterfly is pretty - that girl is beautiful.’ 

“Sup Chlo?” Rachel said, smirking and leaning against the counter looking at her red-faced friend.

“Nothing,” Chloe replied, gaining her composure and busying herself cleaning the coffee machine.

“Uh-huh,” Rachel replied knowingly. She had known without a shadow of a doubt that Chloe would crush on Max. She wasn’t Chloe’s usual type but the girl was really stunning with her mousy brown hair and her bright blue eyes and a face full of freckles. This was going to be great fun for Rachel to spectate.


	2. Analyze This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for Chloe to show Max the ropes on her first shift at the coffee shop.

Max finished tying her apron and took a deep breath before leaving the staff area to join Rachel and Chloe behind the counter. She could feel her palms were sweaty with nerves and she berated herself for feeling so shy and anxious in situations like this that involved meeting new people.

‘It’s fine Max, it’s just a job, it’s just a coffee shop and you’re going to make some extra money and meet new people and…I mean Chloe seemed nice enough…even though she probably doesn’t like you already because you’re a nerd and she seems really cool and…’ Max face palmed herself for her negative thought spiral ‘No it will be fine Max. Deep breaths.’ 

Rachel smiled as Max approached from the staff area, Chloe didn’t turn around to acknowledge her and seemed engrossed in cleaning the coffee machine. 

“So…” Rachel said, breaking the silence, “You’ve met Chloe?”

Chloe finally turned round to face Rachel and Max, “Yeah we met.”

Max smiled at Chloe again and then the silence resumed, both girls staring at the floor, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Rachel thought, ‘This is going to be a long night for them.’

“Well, Chloe can show you the ropes. I have a date with the books tonight. I’ll see you in class tomorrow Max?” 

“Yeah, bye Rachel,” Max said smiling and watched as Rachel gave Chloe a quick hug and then ruffled her bright blue hair.

“Later loser,” Rachel said to Chloe as she walked out of the shop.

“So…” Chloe began, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

‘Fuck I hate these newbie starts the best of times, but I just met this chick and she’s making me feel hella nervous. Get a grip Chloe.’

“Umm so it’s Monday,” Chloe continued. 

“Uhhh….yup it is,” Max said and then laughed a little.

“Umm I just mean, it’s always dead here on a Monday so you won’t be you know, like overwhelmed...I don’t think.” 

“That’s good,” Max said and let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

Chloe noticed the girls nervousness and felt an overwhelming urge to make her feel better so she placed a hand on her shoulder, “Hey don’t worry you’ll pick everything up in no time, it’s hella easy,” she pulled her hand away quickly, ‘Uh Chloe you’ve known this girl like 2.4 seconds and you’re pawing at her.’

Max felt a slight blush creep on her face at the contact, ‘Oh no, not now, don’t blush…dork alert…dork alert,’ she thought but luckily Chloe had turned away to walk over to the cash register. 

“So I guess I should get you started with this. It’s really simple, if you can hold the fort with this tonight I’ll take care of the coffee.”

“Okay,” Max said looking at all the various buttons in trepidation. Chloe glanced down at Max’s face and saw her pull her bottom lip into her mouth and bite it with worry.

‘Ugh this girl is too fucking adorable to even look at. Can I work with her and just not look at her actual face? I can do that…right?’ Chloe thought.

“Seriously dude don’t look so worried,” Chloe said and began explaining what the different buttons meant. Some customers started to drift in giving her an opportunity to watch over Max as she took their orders. Max picked it up fairly quickly, it turns out it wasn’t that difficult. Max felt pleased with herself as she took an order without Chloe looking over her shoulder to offer guidance. 

Max watched Chloe make up the latest coffee order and found herself staring at the girls tattooed arm as she pulled the leaver on the steamer. Chloe was oblivious to Max’s staring so she continued, ‘She has really pretty arms. Is that a thing? It should be a thing. It’s a thing on her. Max, you’ve reached a new level of weird…even for you.’

Max shook her head and laughed a little, Chloe looked over with a confused expression, “What?” she asked as she finished making the coffee and handed it to the customer. The shop was empty now and Max was glad of the reprieve. 

“Nothing I just…” Max started, “your tattoo is beautiful.”

‘Ugh she’s going to think you’re so weird, you hardly know her! Why didn’t you say ‘rad’ or ‘dope'? That’s what cool people like Chloe say…I think?’

Chloe looked at her arm and her face beamed with a smile, ‘Wow…beautiful huh? I’ll take that any day from her,’ she thought.

"Uhh thanks a lot. I guess it's pretty sick,” Chloe said.

‘Sick…you should have said sick Max.’

“Did it hurt?” Max asked, glad that they were having a semi-conversation and desperate for it to continue to avoid any future awkward silences. 

“Nah not really. You got any tats?”

Max laughed, “Oh no, my parents would kill me.” 

“Yeah, you don’t really seem the type.”

“Oh…what type am I?” Max asked, cocking an eyebrow and smirking. 

‘You’re my type,’ Chloe thought.

“Well…what’s your major at Blackwell?” she asked.

“Photography.”

Chloe studied Max up and down while stroking her chin, “Interesting.” 

Max giggled, “That’s enough for your evaluation?”

“Not quite,” Chloe said, “digital or analogue?”

“Analogue all the way.” 

“Favorite song?”

“Ooh uhh that’s hard, right now it’s Obstacles by Syd Matter’s.”

“Interesting…very interesting,” Chloe continued and began pacing like a detective about to crack the case.

Max laughed at Chloe’s playful analysis, “Anything else?”

“No I think I have all the information I need…you Max…are a hipster.”

“What?!” Max exclaimed, “No way…nu-uh!”

“Sorry, my hipster-dar is never wrong…it’s almost as good as my gay-dar.”

Both girls started laughing but Max kept replaying the last part of Chloe’s sentence in her brain, ‘Gay-dar…she’s gay…Chloe’s gay? I mean that’s cool…I mean that’s not a big deal. Why do I feel so…happy about that?’ 

“Seriously though, photography’s cool, and analogue, definite cool points for that…even if they are hipster cool points,” Chloe said.

“I wish everyone in my class agreed with you.”

“Fuck them, analogue is awesome. My Dad had a polaroid, he loved that thing,” Chloe said. ‘Okay over-share Price…where did that come from?’

Max noticed a flash of sadness in Chloe’s blue eyes, 'Oh she used past-tense, that can't be good,' Max decided not to pry since she didn't know Chloe well enough yet, “I can see why. I love mine, I love being able to capture a moment and it’s instant, no editing, no selecting out of a thousand photos, you get one shot and then it’s gone.”

Both girls stood smiling at each other, ‘Man this girl is so easy to talk to, she’s so smart and interesting and…' Chloe's gaze drifted from Max's eyes to the clock on the wall behind her, 'Fuck it’s closing time.’ 

“Uhh well that about wraps it up!” Chloe said.

“Huh?” Max asked and glanced at the clock behind her, “Oh wowser I didn’t even realize the time, that went by so fast.”

‘Wowser? Max…you are killing me with cuteness,’ Chloe laughed, “Yeah time flies when you’re having fun serving shitty coffee to shitty customers.”

“I’m sure the coffee’s not that shitty,” Max joked.

“Well since you are now bestowed with a staff discount of an astounding twenty percent, you can knock yourself out during any of your hipster coffee-shop gatherings.”

“Oh ha ha,” Max said, “But yeah discount coffee, that’s a perk.” ‘Also working with you.’ 

Chloe walked over to the door to lock it, “You can go grab your stuff and bail if you want, I just need to cash up.”

“Okay if you’re sure you don’t want me.”

‘Well…not entirely sure about that,’ Chloe thought, “Yeah it’s totally fine, go for it,” she replied.

Max disappeared towards the staff area and Chloe shook her head, ‘What has gotten into me? I haven’t crushed this hard since…since…never. Oh fuck me…I’m so screwed.’

. . . . . . 

Max left out of the staff exit after saying bye to Chloe, leaving her to count the takings for the day and lock it away in the safe. When she was done she grabbed her things and went out towards her truck. She drove out of the staff car park and saw Max sitting at the bus stop. Pulling up to it, she rolled down her window and Max glanced up and smiled, pulling out her headphones and walking over to the truck.

‘Figures Chloe would drive something like this,’ Max thought and smiled to herself.

“You uh, want a ride back to Blackhell?” Chloe asked.

Max laughed at the nickname, “It’s fine I can get the bus. I don’t want to put you out.”

“I pass by there anyway and it’s like ten minutes from here…it’s totally fine, get in. I promise I’m not a ‘Max’-murderer,” Chloe said with a wink.

“Very punny,” Max said laughing and hopped in the passenger side of Chloe’s truck, “Thank you, that’s really nice of you.”

“Hey don’t go spreading this around, I’ve got a rep to protect,” Chloe said and started driving.

“Don’t want to ruin your punk-exterior?” 

“Oh we’re playing the 'analyze me' game with me now?” Chloe asked.

“Hmm…nah I think you’re probably a bit of an enigma,” Max said thoughtfully.

“You’re not wrong,” Chloe said, “so what shifts are you on?”

“I do Monday, Wednesday and Friday nights. James said there might be the odd weekend shift I could pick up if I need the extra cash.”

Chloe tried to contain her excitement as she realized she worked all of Max’s shifts, ‘What are the fucking chances?’ 

“Well I’ve got good news and bad news for you,” Chloe said.

“Good news first please."

“The good news is - all your shifts are with the enigmatic yours truly.” 

Max tried to contain the huge grin spreading across her face, “And the bad news?”

“The bad news is…there’s still no cure for hipster.”

Max laughed and playfully pushed Chloe’s shoulder. Chloe pulled up at Blackwell a few minutes later and watched Max disappear towards the dorms. 

. . . . . 

Max walked into her room, a huge smile plastered on her face as she packed her bag for tomorrow's classes. She was so relieved that her first shift was over and it had been so much better than she had expected. 

“Okay so I need this,” she said out-loud, grabbing some film and her camera, “I need pens, this notebook, oh…this.” 

‘Chloe’s really pretty,’ Max stopped in her tracks as the thought crossed her mind, ‘Yeah okay she’s pretty, what has that got to do with anything right now brain?’ 

“Okay so,” she continued - trying to focus, “just a quick check on the campus message boards,” she said as she sat in front of her laptop. ‘Or you know…a quick snoop on Chloe’s Facebook?’

Max chewed her lip as she willed herself not to snoop, ‘Ah fudge it,’ she thought as she brought up Facebook and entered Chloe’s name. ‘Oh wait…I don’t know her surname. Hmmm okay, let's look up Rachel Amber and then her friends…’ Max began scrolling through Rachel’s thousands of friends until she saw the one she was looking for, ‘Ah-hah! Chloe…Price? Huh, that’s a nice name…it suits her. It’s ‘Price-less’…wow you’re a nerd.’ 

Max clicked on the profile and then onto Chloe’s profile pictures and was agonizingly slow with her actions incase she accidentally liked an old Facebook photo, ‘Oh my dog could you imagine if I did that? Stalker alert.’ She scrolled through Chloe’s pictures, laughing at a few shots of Chloe making stupid faces and feeling a dull tightening sensation in her stomach at some of Chloe’s selfies. She closed the laptop and sighed, ‘Why did I just Facebook stalk a girl I just met? And why did it give me these belly flop things?’

Max changed into her pajamas, shut her lights off and crawled into bed. She stared up at the ceiling and rested her arm across her forehead. After lying there for a while, still unable to sleep, she flicked the lanterns on next to her bed and pulled out her journal. She wrote about her first day at the coffee shop, meeting Chloe and eventually questioning her recent Facebook activity:

_'I don’t know why I wanted to FB spy on Chloe I mean, I just met her, that’s weird right? Maybe it’s because she’s just so cool, she gives off this ‘I don’t give a flying fuck what anyone thinks’ attitude that I wish I had so badly. Maybe that’s it, maybe I just wish I was like Chloe. Yeah that must be it. Well we are going to be working together all the time journal so I’m sure I’ll have more on this later.'_

Max closed her journal and flipped the lights back off, “Yeah that must be it,” she said out-loud before attempting again to get some much needed sleep before classes. 

‘I wonder what she meant by that gay-dar comment? I wonder if she’s gay or I just assumed she was? I wonder if she has a girlfriend?’ Max groaned out loud at herself as she half ran back to the laptop to scope out more of Chloe’s Facebook. “Okay, single and interested in…women. Satisfied now Max?” she said before closing the laptop and flopping herself back on her bed and shutting her eyes tightly.

She closed her eyes and focused on the sounds of the ticking clock and tried to will her brain into sleep, thinking of peaceful meadows and warm sunlight on her skin and ‘…if she did have a girlfriend…I wonder what her type would be?’ 

“Uuuuuggggghhhhh!” Max said out-loud, placing both hands on her face and resigning herself to a sleepless night.

. . . . . .

“Dammit Rachel how can you have like fifty thousand bazillion friends on Facebook but not be friends with Max?” Chloe grumbled as she continued scrolling through Rachel’s friends list. Chloe turned her head as she heard her phone vibrate on the desk next to her, answering she said, “Speak of the devil.” 

“What?” Rachel asked from the other end.

“Nothing. Sup?”

“Juuuust checking in to see how your shift was with Miss.Caulfield?”

‘And bingo was his name o!’ Chloe thought, mentally filing the surname for later snooping purposes, “Nothing special. Why are you asking me how work was? You never call me after work...are you high?” 

“I dunno, I just wanted to check in because I was worried incase you would eat Max alive…because you were looking at her like a hot piece of meat.”

“I hate you,” Chloe said.

“No you love me…and you totally have the hots for that girl.”

“Pffft I think the fuck not,” Chloe half-heartedly attempted to dismiss the accusation.

“Oh come on Chloe, I could see it like instantly, I mean I did think you might crush on her because she is a cutie, but I didn’t think you would be like…well like you were!” 

“Thanks for the warning.”

“Ah-hah! I knew it!”

Chloe slapped her forehead as she realized her slip-up, “Uhh I am not having this conversation. Goodnight.”

“Chloe you’re not gonna get out…”

Rachel was cut off as Chloe hung up the phone. She began typing Max’s full name into the Facebook search and brought up her profile. 

‘Aww man it’s one of those super private pages. Figures. Hmm, profile pics though...’ 

Chloe flicked through Max’s profile pictures, ignoring the phone buzzing next to her on the desk, ‘Man this is kinda creepy of me…although she is so fucking cute.’ Chloe sighed as a selfie of Max appeared on screen, the light dotted across the freckles on her cheeks and she had her tongue sticking out and was giving the peace sign, ‘Adora-fucking-ble.’

Chloe answered the incessant phone buzzing next to her, “What?!”

“I cannot believe you hung up on me.”

“You totally can believe that.”

“Okay fine but seriously just tell me what happened.”

“Nothing happened, it was just another night at the coffee shop. We worked and we left…and I dropped her off.”

“Aww that’s so sweet!”

“Rach, you’re reading way too much into this. She is totally straight. My gay-dar is never wrong. So this is just a sad-tale of Chloe crushing on a straight girl. Anyway, it’s stupid, I don’t even know her, I just fucking met her.” 

“I’m totally on detective mode.”

“No Rachel don’t you dare.” 

“It’s too late. I have a mission…the mission is to determine the sexuality of this potential love interest. I cannot betray the mission.”

“I know I say this a lot but…I really do hate you.” 

“Nah totally love me.”

“Rach honestly, it’s not even a thing. I mean, don’t make it a thing okay?”

“But you never crush Chlo, let me bask in this moment and set you up.”

“No! I mean it Rach, no, there is nothing going on. End of story.”

“If you say so,” Rachel said and hung up, ‘Well,’ she thought, 'I better get my beauty sleep, I have a long day of digging ahead of me tomorrow.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long for me to update this. I have been working really hard on figuring out how I want the story to build and develop and I have been reading some amazing fanfic that has made me feel a little out of my depth and nervous to post an update - I really want to do the Pricefield fandom justice. That being said, thank you so much for your comments and kudos it actually means the world to me to know that people are enjoying this. I hope you enjoy Chapter Two.


	3. Mission Cupid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel begins Mission Cupid!

Rachel flopped down onto her seat in Science class, ‘Thank god this is the last class of the day, I can’t wait to get out of here.’ She stared longingly out of the window at the gloriously sunny day, ‘Ugh I just want to be outside, topping up my tan, chilling out, maybe a little smoke.’ She opened her phone and sent Chloe a message:

 **Rachel** \- Chlooooeeee! What are you up 2 this afternoon? xxx

Rachel sighed as she pulled out her books for class after Miss Grant entered the room. She saw Max enter behind her and rush to her seat next to Warren, ‘Oh I almost forgot about Mission Cupid.’ Rachel had come up with the title last night after her phone call with Chloe. It wasn’t that she was just playing matchmaker for her own entertainment (which, of course part of it was that) but she also would love to see Chloe actually settle down and have longer than a three day relationship with someone, ‘I think someone like Max would be really good for her.’ 

Max turned around to hang her jacket on the back of her chair and saw Rachel smiling at her from the row of desks behind her. She smiled back and returned her attention to the front of the class and Miss.Grant’s lecture. Rachel continued to study her target for potential gay vibes, ‘Okay so attire - casual, not girly. Hmm that doesn’t mean she’s on the gay love bus, it could mean she doesn’t conform to girly stereotypes because she’s a bit of an artsy hipster type. Hmm but, although its pretty stereotypical, artsy hipster types are usually more open to the possibility of ladies, so maybe she’s bi? I think Chloe has had her fair share of women who want to “Try Before They Bi” ’ 

Rachel unknowingly laughed out loud at her own joke which caused Miss Grant to pause her lecture and look at her confused, “Oh sorry, umm…got a cough thing,” Rachel offered apologetically.

Miss.Grant shook her head and continued, “Anyway, if you can all team up with your lab partner for this, the materials you need are all out here at the front of the class.” 

Rachel put up her hand, “Umm Miss.Grant, I’m lab partner-less today. Juliet’s not here.”

“Oh…team up with Max and Warren.”

Warren and Max scooted over to allow Rachel to pull up her seat, ‘Ah-hah right behind enemy lines…this is where I can get the information. Wow I really need to get a boyfriend,’ Rachel thought.

“Hi Max, how was your shift last night?”

“Oh it was great thanks, Chloe’s really nice,” Max smiled as she put on her goggles and her gloves. Max thought of last night and her sleepless night of a million questions about Chloe and her FB spying and was glad that Rachel couldn’t read her mind.

‘Okay but is that nice as in ‘she’s nice and I have no interest in sleeping with her’ or nice as in ‘she’s nice and omg do I want to jump her bones’’? Rachel’s train of thought was cut off by Warren, “I totally forgot you started at the coffee shop last night Max. I’ll need to stop by one night and bug you when you’re working.” 

Rachel studied Warren’s face and his feelings towards Max were as evident as Chloe’s had been the night before, ‘Damn what does this girl do to turn everyone to mush?’

“You wouldn’t bug me Warren, you’re always welcome to come by for some caffeine goodness,” Max said and smiled at Warren before standing up to go and grab the materials. Warren continued to watch her and was blushing like an idiot, ‘Is she really that naive that she doesn’t realize how much he is crushing on her?’ Rachel thought.

Max returned and Rachel became increasingly more bored as the two started discussing the method for the experiment.

“I think we need like a boat-load of Potassium,” Warren said.

“Hmm that doesn’t seem right, I mean, I think maybe Sodium?” Max replied.

Rachel felt her phone vibrate and slyly pulled it out of her pocket to check the message from Chloe.

Chloe - At sk8 park wi’ Justin and Trev. Come by after BlackHell? We have smokes.

“Ehhh Rachel?” Warren asked, apparently not for the first time from the way he and Max were staring at her.

“Sorry…what?”

“Do you think it should be Potassium or Sodium?”

“Uhhh…I have no idea sorry. Why don’t we just ask Miss.Grant?”

“Yeah probably a good idea before we end up exploding the lab or something,” Warren concluded before getting up and going over to speak to Miss.Grant.

“So,” Rachel began, “Are you and Warren like, a thing?” ‘Direct and to the point - that’s one way to get an answer out of her.’

Max looked flustered, “Uhhh no, we’re just friends,” Max decided not to add that she was very aware that Warren had a crush on her because she didn’t want to seem big headed, “Why? Oh…do you like Warren?” 

Rachel laughed, “Umm no, I mean he’s cute, he’s just not really my type. I am all about the bad boys I’m afraid. What’s your type Max?”

Max felt very on the spot as she tried to think of the last time she had crushed on a boy and what his type would be described as, “Uhh I guess skater boys can be pretty cute.” 

“Funny you should mention skater boys.” ‘Oh this is too perfect’ Rachel thought before continuing, “I’m going to hang with some friends at the skate park after class if you want to come?”

“What about the skate park?” Warren asked as he went back to his seat.

Max was still a bit shell shocked that one of the most popular girls at Blackwell had actually invited her to hang with her and some friends after class. She felt like she was ten feet tall in that moment, but was also a little nervous, why would Rachel want to hang with her? 

Max addressed Warren’s question, “Rachel was just asking if I wanted to hang out at the skate park after class.”

“Oh cool, hey do you mind if I came along? I haven’t had my board out in forever.” 

“You skate?” Max asked surprised.

“A little,” Warren admitted shyly.

Rachel mentally scolded herself, ‘Damn it Rach, did you forget who you’re meant to be setting up here?’ 

“Uh the more the merrier,” Rachel said. ‘Oh well maybe a little bit of love-rivalry will get Chloe to step up her game a bit.’ 

. . . . . 

Chloe was in the zone on the half-pipe, some cheers and whoops could be heard from Justin and Trevor who were sitting watching her whilst they lit up a joint. Chloe had always loved skating, it was always an escape for her and let her mind forget whatever shit was going on and just focus on the here and now, the sounds, movement and feeling of adrenaline whenever she managed to pull off a killer move. She jumped up to the top of the half pipe, grabbing her board and sitting down next to Justin, “Yo share the love.” Justin handed the joint to her and she inhaled deeply, letting out smoke rings in front of her. 

Through the smoke she could see Rachel in the distance approaching the half-pipe. She was about to jump up and wave over at her when she saw a familiar brunette behind her and her stomach flipped, ‘She brought her? Damnit Rach, if you knew how hard I have tried today not to think about Max and then Whoomp! There she is! Wait…who’s that guy with them?’ Chloe scowled at the boy walking next to Max who was talking animatedly with her with a board under his arm. Chloe heard the ladder next to her rattle and scooted up to make room for Rachel and her companions. 

“Hey babe!” Rachel said and bent down to give Chloe a quick squeeze before moving over to Justin and Trevor to get a hit from their joint. 

Chloe’s heart was pounding as she waited for Max to appear, ‘Okay Chloe just be cool, it’s not even a big deal this crush thing, it’s just a little tiny…’

“Hey Chloe,” Max was standing next to her, looking down at her and smiling. The low afternoon sun lit up her face so the light freckles dusted across her nose and her cheeks were more visible against her pale complexion, the wind whipped her hair and she moved her hand to tuck it behind her ear. 

‘Fuck me, she’s really beautiful.’ Chloe swallowed, “He…,” she coughed as her voice stuck in her throat, “Hey Max.” ‘Smooth Chloe, smooth.’ 

Max felt like her heart was beating out of her chest when she saw Chloe, ‘Wow I was not expecting to see her today. She looks really…good? No, not ‘good’, that doesn’t cover it.’

Max’s thoughts were interrupted by Warren, “Hey guys!” he shouted enthusiastically from behind her.

“Guys, this is Warren and Max. Have you all met?” Rachel said.

“Yeah I think I know everyone,” Warren said, and then looked at Chloe, “Oh wait, sorry, I’m Warren,” he said and extended his hand to Chloe.

Chloe looked at it, and then gave his hand a slap and fist bump. “Chloe,” she said as she got up and placed her board on the edge of the half-pipe before starting to skate again. ‘I do not like that dude. Why did Rachel bring Max and her probably boyfriend, because lets face it why would Max be single, here?'

Max sat down on the edge of the half pipe letting her legs dangle over the edge. Justin offered the joint to her but she declined. Max’s gaze was fully focussed on Chloe, she looked amazing and pulled off some really impressive tricks and made it all look fluid and flawless. 

“She’s really good! Man now I feel a bit intimidated,” Warren confessed.

“You’ll be fine,” Max said and offered him a reassuring smile as he made his way to the edge of the half-pipe with his board.

“Just don’t get too close to Chloe or she’ll probably total you,” Justin joked.

“Noted! Hey make sure to get some killer snaps of me Max!” Warren said before starting to skate. 

Max pulled out her camera and started to take some shots of Warren. He was a good skater, there was no doubting that and she got some good shots of him but her eyes felt like they were being pulled towards Chloe. She felt like she could sit and watch Chloe for hours. She felt her breath catch in her throat whenever Chloe would jump and her shirt would rise slightly and expose her toned stomach, or when she would catch a side view of Chloe and her exposed bra in her tank top. ‘She looks really…cool? No that’s not it Max…that’s not what you’re feeling right now. She looks really…’

Max jumped as Chloe appeared next to her and climbed up the half pipe, she was sweating slightly and her breathing had increased, she moved to her bag and pulled out a bottle of water from it before gulping it down. She tugged her beanie off her head and ran her hands through her hair, pushing it back a little before shoving the beanie back on. She turned back round to the edge of the half-pipe, gave Max a quick wink and then returned to skating. 

‘Hot,’ Max thought, ‘Chloe is hot. Okay…wow….I think Chloe is hot. That’s…different.’ Max let the realization settle in as she continued to watch Chloe skate, ‘Oh my dog, I totally have the hots for her…I mean…look at her.’

“She’s pretty good right?” Max spun round to see Rachel sitting next to her.

“Yeah she’s really amazing…at skating. She’s an amazing skater.” 

Rachel grinned at Max, “And I thought skater boys were more your type?”

Max looked like a deer in headlights but was saved by Warren who was now standing next to Max, “Hey Max, do you want to have a go skating?”

“Oh I don’t know, I mean I tried it a few times but I’m really bad.” 

“Oh come on, we don’t have to do the half-pipe, we can go over there and just practice on flat ground.”

Max thought it might be a good idea to get away from Rachel and avoid answering her question, “Sure, sounds fun.” 

Rachel watched Max leave with a knowing smile on her face, ‘Oh she is definitely crushing on Chloe, Mission Cupid is in full swing.’

. . . . . .

Chloe returned soon after Max and Warren had left and planted herself down next to Rachel, “What the fuck Rach?”

“What?” 

“You never said you were bringing Max and her friend,” she finished the last word of the sentence with sarcastic air quotes.

“Aww you jealous?” Rachel asked, poking Chloe in the ribs.

“Pffft no! I mean, the guys just so blah, you know, he’s just so…wait, so he is her boyfriend?”

“Hmm no that’s TBD.”

“TBD?”

“To be determined. Although I am already like one hundred and ten percent sure he has the hots for her so you better step up your game.”

“Rach, there is no game,” Chloe said, shaking her head, “But…if there was, I would totally win against Warren. I mean, come on, there is no competition there.”

“You sure about that?” Rachel asked as she gestured over to where Warren was teaching Max to skate. 

. . . . . . 

“Warren! I told you I can’t do this, I’m gonna fall,” Max squealed as Warren tried to propel her across the ground. She did not feel like she was getting this at all and her balance felt completely off. Warren was holding her hips and he was doing his best to direct Max but she didn’t feel like he was the best teacher but didn’t have the heart to tell him that. 

“Trust me Max, I’ve got you, you can do this.” 

“Ahem, why don’t we step aside and let a pro take over?”

Max jumped off the board and turned around to see Chloe standing there, arms folded across her chest and her brow raised at Warren, daring him to question her. 

“Sure, you are probably a lot better at this than me,” Warren agreed, shrugging and making his way back over to Rachel and her crew. 

‘Damn Waldo, you didn’t put up much of a fight,’ Chloe thought, feeling slightly bad for the guy, but not bad enough to back off. 

Max was so relieved to see Chloe standing there, relieved and giddy that she was getting some one on one time with the girl. Chloe walked to Max’s left side and put her hand out for Max to take it. Max gulped, ‘Oh man I hope my hands not all nervous and sweaty,’ she placed her hand lightly in Chloe’s who gripped it tightly. 

“Now hold on tight, let’s get your balance right and then we can work on letting you go it alone,” Chloe felt like her hand was on fire from the contact with Max, it was like all her senses were pulled to focus on that one point in her body that was touching Max, it was making her head spin but she had to keep it together to justify herself interrupting Warren’s attempt to teach Max. 

“Oh…kay.” Max agreed, trying to focus on her movements. 

“This might be more difficult for you than most people.” 

“Why?” Max asked, offended.

“Hipsters can’t skate,” Chloe joked and pushed her tongue to the side of her cheek to stifle a grin.

“Maybe not, but we have many other hidden talents,” Max said and smirked at Chloe. ‘Oh wow okay Flirty McFlirterson…where did that come from?’

Chloe was slightly taken aback from Max’s comment and tried to keep her voice steady when she replied, “Oh really? Well maybe next time you can teach me one of your many talents?” Chloe’s tone was flirtatious and she grinned as she saw Max blush. ‘She was totally flirting with me. Hmm, okay maybe Rach is on to something.’

After a while Max was beginning to get the hang of it and Chloe let go of Max’s hand and watched as the girl propelled herself forward on the board and managed to come to a stop a short distance away. Chloe jogged over to where Max had stopped, “Yes! Way to go Max I knew you could do it.” 

Max was grinning with pride and planted one foot on the ground but the other wobbled on the board and she felt herself begin to fall back and let out a small ‘Eep’ sound and closed her eyes waiting for the pain of impact on the ground. She was confused when it never came and instead she could feel one arm behind her back, the other wrapped around her front and Chloe’s breath on her face. She opened her eyes and her heart was pounding in her chest when she saw bright electric blue eyes staring down at her with a look of panic, “Woah, you okay Max?”

“Uh…yeah…wow…you caught me! Are you a ninja?” 

Chloe laughed and pulled the girl up to a standing position. Her stomach felt like it had dropped towards her feet, and not because of the adrenaline from catching Max but because she had been so close to the brunettes face, had been less than a few centimeters from her and could have so easily just leaned in and closed that gap between them. She wanted that so badly, she hadn’t felt this feeling of longing before, this overwhelming urge to just kiss someone. Sure she had felt drunken lust before but that was very different to what she was feeling right now. She wanted to just kiss Max, hold her body close to her and wrap her arms around her tightly. 

Chloe realized she had been lost in thought and Max was still standing looking at her, waiting for a response and trying to catch her breath after her near fall.

“Uh yes, I’m a ninja, barista, skater - the ultimate weapon.” 

Max laughed and was about to say something when she heard Justin shouting from the half-pipe, “Yo Chlo, we’re heading to the lighthouse, you comin?”

Chloe looked at Max, “Uh you wanna come hang out by the lighthouse?”

Max desperately wanted to go but she knew she had a ton of schoolwork to do and she also felt a little overwhelmed with all this close proximity with Chloe. ‘How the hell am I gonna manage working with her tomorrow?’

“I really want to but I have so much work to catch up on.”

“That’s cool, I’ll catch you tomorrow at work?” Chloe tried not to let her disappointment show in her face.

“Yeah,” Max agreed then watched as Chloe began to walk back over to the rest of the group, “Uh Chloe?”

Chloe spun round, hoping Max had changed her mind.

“Um, do you want my number? You know like incase I’m like running late for work or if, I don’t know, you just want to like, text me sometime?”

Chloe tried to stop herself from full on grinning like a dork at Max and cooly replied, “Okay cool.” 

Max handed her phone to Chloe with her number displayed on screen and Chloe put in into her phone. “Later,” she said before walking away. When Chloe’s back was facing Max again she let the full on cheesy grin she had been trying to suppress take over her face.

. . . . . . 

Max was sitting in her room studying, trying not to look at her phone. She had turned it over to stop herself looking at the screen every twenty seconds, but had decided that placing it face down would be more productive. That however didn’t work as she now kept flipping it over every so often to check it. She was really hoping that Chloe would text her, but then she reasoned that Chloe probably wasn’t reading as much into the exchange of numbers as Max was. 

‘She literally just saw you Max, why would she need to message you? It’s not like she’s sitting there, partying it up at the lighthouse and thinking about you like you’ve been thinking about her since you left her. She probably has girls crushing on her all the time and is used to random girls forcing their number on her. Oh no what if I was too forceful with the number? No, I mean we work together it’s like common sense for us to have each others numbers…right? Ugh I need to stop crushing on Chloe…I mean, when did I start crushing on girls, when was that a thing?’ Max groaned and planted her head on the desk. Tilting her head to the side, she flipped the phone over once more to confirm once again that there were no new messages.

“Okay Max, just put the phone away for an hour,” she said to herself as she moved the phone to her bedside cabinet and put it in the drawer before continuing her studies. 

. . . . . . 

Chloe was at the lighthouse with Rachel and a few more students from Blackwell that had arrived. They were playing some music, drinking, smoking, the usual teen delinquent behavior that Chloe was so used to and so tired of. She wished Max would have come, even in the short time they had spent together it felt like Chloe always had a lot more fun when she was with Max. She smiled as she thought about when Max had nearly fallen off the board today and she felt her chest tighten as she remembered staring into the girls eyes when she looked back at her dazed. She wondered if Max was thinking of her right now, she wondered if Max had any idea that Chloe was crushing on her, ‘Fuck maybe she has no idea that I’m even into girls?’ Chloe laughed at that, ‘Okay no, its not like she’s blind.’

Chloe pulled her phone out of her pocket and for about the fifteenth time that evening started to compose a message to Max, and then deleted it again and lit another cigarette. 

Rachel sat down next to her, “Still haven’t text her?”

“What? How did you…”

“Duh I saw her give you her number.”

“You were spying?”

“Obviously. You two were pretty cute, and when you caught her - oh my god!” Rachel exclaimed and put her hand over her heart.

“Fuck off!” Chloe said, turning her red face away to take a drag of her cigarette.

“I love seeing you with a crush, it’s so sweet. Why don’t you just ask her out?”

“Rach are you nuts? I have no idea if she’s even that way inclined. Also, I’ve known her what like two days? I hardly know her at all.”

“Well that’s never stopped you before.”

“I know but…Max is different.”

Rachel watched the small smile appear on Chloe’s face as she stared at the end of her lit cigarette, “Wow…you really like her.”

Chloe sighed, “If I say yes will you get off my back?”

“Probably not.”

“There’s just something about her, she’s just…different.”

“Hmm yeah you said that.”

“You know I’m not good at saying this kinda shit Rach.”

“Well, I think you need to bite the bullet and fucking message her already. I mean, you want to get to know her better right?”

“Well sure yeah.”

“So…” Rachel said, pulling Chloe’s phone out of her pocket and handing it to her, “This is a good place to start.”

. . . . . .

Max was on a roll with her studying, she was typing furiously, glancing at the books beside her occasionally for reference. She was being productive, making great progress with her essay until…BZZZ…her phone went off in the drawer in her bedside cabinet and she practically launched herself from her desk to her bed to fetch it out. Her stomach flipped when she saw a message from a number that wasn’t stored in her phone.

“Please be Chloe, please be Chloe, please be Chloe,’ she thought as she unlocked her phone to read the message, her hand was over her face and she was peeking through her fingers at the screen.

Unknown Number - So Mad Max, has Tony Hawk called yet about your mad skills?

Max felt a huge grin spread across her face and she had started to type a response when a second message came in.

Unknown Number - It’s Chloe by the way.

Max giggled, ‘Like I wouldn’t know it was you. Man if only she knew I had been sitting waiting for a message from her all night. I wonder how she would feel about that? Hmm, probably creeped out.’

Max - Not yet, he’s probably too busy getting you booked for all your guest appearances

Chloe - I don’t have time for that shit! I’ve got my ninja, barista duties to attend to

Max - Of course, how could I forget?! How’s the lighthouse?

Chloe - Lame! You should have totally come

Max - Can’t say I’m regretting it even though you just made it sound so fun

Chloe - Well you would have my amazing company

Max - Okay it does sound pretty fun now ;) point taken

Chloe had a huge grin plastered on her face as she read the last message from Max. Rachel laughed at her friend’s goofy grin, “You’re welcome,” she said before getting up to go and grab a beer. Chloe didn’t look up and continued to text Max until the early hours of the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the comments and kudos so far, it's great to see that you seem to be enjoying this work! So many happy feels :D I will try and get another chapter posted this weekend/next week, I'm really busy this week as I have a gig on Friday with my band so will be tied up with that, but as soon as I get some free time I am on it because I am loving writing this! :D


	4. A Little Respect

If zombies were real, Max imagined she pretty much resembled one right now. Texting a certain blue haired girl until the early hours of the morning had left her with about four hours sleep. She could see the bags under her eyes when she checked her appearance in the mirror of the bathroom, she stifled her one millionth yawn of the day and the idea that she would have to spend all afternoon paying attention in photography class felt like it would require the same amount of effort as running a marathon. And yet, she didn’t regret it for a single second. Despite her sleepy haze she had carried a dopey grin on her face all morning. 

She washed her hands in the sink and made her way to photography class. On the way, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and felt slightly disappointed that she hadn’t heard from Chloe so far today. Max had fallen asleep when Chloe had last messaged and she followed up this morning with an apology for bailing on their very important debate of who was better for Buffy - Spike or Angel. Chloe was obviously team Spike all the way.

She laughed a little as she read back their messages from the night before and how they had managed to ramble such random conversation to each other all night when they had known each other over such a short space of time, ‘It just feels like, she gets me. That’s such a cliché,’ Max shook her head and went to put her phone back in her pocket as she walked into class when she felt herself collide into someone. 

“Oh god sorry I wasn’t looking,” she said as she went to the ground to pick up her now dropped phone, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw the screen wasn’t broken. She looked up and gulped when she she saw Victoria’s eyes staring down at her whilst her nostrils flared with rage.

“Clearly! Too wrapped up in your ‘selfie’ as usual Maxine?”

Max stood up and clung to her bag strap over her chest, “S-sorry.” 

“Yeah you ’s-said’ that. Just look where you’re going, I should never be forced to be in such close proximity to all of…this,” she emphasized the last point by drawing an imaginary circle around Max’s face and stormed off into the classroom.

Max sighed loudly, ‘Dog I wish I had the guts to call that bitch out,’ she avoided eye contact with Victoria as she made her way to her seat in class, ‘I bet Chloe wouldn’t have any trouble putting her in her place.’ A smile returned to Max’s face as she thought of Chloe again.

She started taking notes in class but her mind kept drifting off to thoughts of the blue haired girl. The sound of her laugh, how beautiful she looked when she smiled and how totally hot she looked when she was skating. Max looked down at her page and was shocked to see she had absent-mindedly drawn little love hearts in the top corner, ‘Okay you just took this crush to a whole new creepy level Max,’ she thought as she quickly scribbled over them with her pen.

. . . . . . 

Chloe could feel her leather jacket swaying in the wind as she approached Max the Vampire Slayer, “You can’t stake me Slayer, I can see it in your eyes, I can see the passion.” Chloe could see the hand that the brunette was clutching the stake with fall down slightly and she seized the opportunity to grab her wrist and pull her hard against her body, she leaned down towards her slightly parted mouth, ready to taste her beautiful red lips…

“Chloe! Get your lazy ass out of bed! I don’t care if you don’t start until four, you can’t sleep the day away,” Joyce yelled from outside the punks door. 

“Uuuggghhh,” Chloe groaned in response, “Yeah yeah I’m up, Jesus fucking christ.” 

“Watch your language. I’m going to work, do something productive in this house before you go would ya?” 

“Yeah yeah yeah,” Chloe grumbled in response. She listened to the sound of Joyce making her way down the stairs and out of the house before she reached for her stash under the bed and started rolling a joint. 

‘Well that was a hell of a weird dream. Kinda predictable since we went to sleep talking about that. Damn it Mom I just needed like one more minute,’ Chloe smiled as she remembered her messaging marathon with Max. She quickly stopped what she was doing and grabbed her phone, grinning when she saw she had a message from the cute brunette. 

Max - Sorry I fell asleep on you last night. But the point still stands…Angel is her true love, Spike was just lust! You are so not going to win this argument

Chloe continued to build her joint and started smoking it while writing a message to Max. She had the perfect, cheeky and slightly flirty response to the first part of Max’s message and debated over whether or not to send it. Taking one large draw of her joint she thought, ‘Fuck it.’

Chloe - Yeah Max, got to say that’s the first time a girl’s ever done that to me. Heartbroken. We can continue the debate at work. See you later

Chloe quickly flipped her phone face down, ‘I can’t believe I just said that to Max, what if she thinks I’m a perv? Oh well, she wouldn’t be wrong. Hope I don’t scare her off though…you never know with these ‘straight’ girls. If she is straight…which she maybe is. But then, she did say that flirty thing yesterday. Oh man I have got to get this chick out of my head!’ 

. . . . . 

“When you’re working on this assignment I want you to think about what Richard Avedon says about portraits, ‘My portraits are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.’ I want you to really focus on your style and technique here, it’s not just about the subject that you choose for this assignment, it’s not just about taking the shot here.”

Max listened intently to Mr.Jefferson’s lecture (probably for the first time all day) but was quickly distracted when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She tried in vain to return her full attention to class but she was desperate to know if Chloe had messaged her. She discreetly slid the phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen and tried to not let the huge grin of joy spread on her face when she saw it was from Chloe. 

“No phone’s in class Max!” Mr.Jefferson boomed.

“Sorry,” Max said and quickly shoved the device back in her pocket. ‘Oh man I didn’t even get a chance to read it, this class is going to drag even more now.’

. . . . . . 

Chloe’s boss James looked at the blue haired girl suspiciously as he watched her smile at a customer, greet them politely and while handing them their order actually tell them to have a good day. 

“Okay, what’s going on?”

“Sup boss?” Chloe asked confused.

“Is this like an evil twin thing? Are you the good twin? Did I have the evil one this whole time and now you’ve swapped?”

“Eat me,” Chloe said before moving through to the back to check the stock.

“Okay nope still the evil one,” James said to himself then beamed as he saw Rachel enter the shop to start her shift, “Rachel! How are you doing today?” he practically gushed at her as she moved behind the counter.

“Wonderful thank you James. How are you?” Rachel knew it was always a good idea to suck up to the boss.

“Actually, pretty good. I don’t know what’s gotten into your friend but she’s been like a ray of sunshine today.”

Rachel looked shocked, “Wait…we’re talking about Chloe right?” 

On cue Chloe entered, whistling whilst carrying some take-away coffee cups in her arms, “Hey Rach! Man is that the time already?”

Rachel looked dumb-founded, “Uh yeah, James asked if I could come in a bit earlier and if I could stay and help you and Max out with your shift tonight since she’s a newbie…ooooooh that’s it!” Rachel said out-loud as the penny dropped as to why Chloe was in such an unbelievably good mood. 

“Uh that’s cool,” Chloe said trying to appear nonchalant again. ‘Damn it, Amber is on to me. I need to get rid of this disgusting giddiness at seeing Max. I’m just working with her, it’s not like I’m going on a date with her. Oh wow imagine if I went on a date with Max…’

“Uh Chloe, I think we are good on cups dude,” Rachel said as she looked up to the tower that Chloe was continuing to stack. 

“Oh, yeah…oops,” Chloe said and quickly went to busy herself serving approaching customers whilst Rachel helped. James said his goodbyes and made his way out of the coffee shop. 

. . . . . .

Max nearly dropped her phone again as she hurriedly pulled it out of her pocket when she made her way out of class to the dorms. She read Chloe’s message…once…twice…three times. 

‘I don’t get it. The first time a girl’s done that to her? Done what? Fell asleep on her at night?…Oh….OH! Oh she means… Wait does she mean…in that way? …OH.’ Max could feel her face burning up scarlet. ‘Wow I am such a prude, one tiny flirty message has got me all like this. I think Chloe would eat me alive…kinda wish she would.’ If it was possible Max’s face burned even redder.

. . . . . .

When there was a lull in customers Rachel said, “Sooo…Max will be coming soon huh?” 

“Uh yeah guess so.”

“Oh come on Chlo, quit it already, I know you are crushing on her hard. So what happened last night? Spill!”

“Nothing happened I was just messaging her that’s all.”

“Eh yeah you were like a hermit all night next to that bonfire with a grin like the cheshire cat. What was she saying? What did you guys talk about? Did you ask her out?”

“No! We just talked about, well…everything I guess. Just stuff. Quit riding me!”

“Oh no I’ll save that privilege for her,” Rachel said smirking as she pointed to the approaching brunette. 

Chloe’s eyes shot up and she bounced from one foot to the other, unsure of how to position herself for Max entering the coffee shop, “Uhh…ummm…we need some lids for those cups!” she declared before running off to the storage room. 

Once she was in the tiny storage area she took a deep breath, ‘What the actual holy fuck has this girl done to me?’ she thought as she started stacking her arms full of plastic lids, ‘Get a grip, this isn’t you, you don’t get all flustered and shit.’

She left the storage area and nearly collided with an equally flustered looking Max, “Uh hey Max!” ‘Oh wow that came out in a higher pitch than I expected’ “Uh…I’ve got lids.” ‘…what…the…fuck.’

“Hey Chloe,” Max replied, “Uhhh nice lids,” she let out a very girly giggle that she had never heard herself produce before, ‘Oh wow crank up that nerd-o-meter just a few more notches Max, great job,’ she thought to herself.

Both girls rushed to the front of the counter to Rachel, Chloe busied herself with stacking the lids and Rachel rolled her eyes as she watched Max nervously play with her fingers, ‘Didn’t they just speak all night and now they are acting like two kids with each other?’

“So Max I’m going to show you how to drive the machine today.”

“Huh?” Max asked. 

“The coffee machine, I’m gonna show you how to make the coffees. Kinda important. Unless Chloe do you want to…?” Rachel hoped Chloe would jump at the chance to show Max the ropes but the blue haired girl pretended not to hear her as she served a customer.

Chloe manned the counter whilst Rachel explained the different drinks on the menu to Max and how they were made up. It wasn’t a very complicated menu, she just needed to show Max how to steam the milk to different consistencies based on what kind of drink she was making. 

“We don’t do any of that fancy Latte art shit or anything don’t worry,” Rachel said whilst showing Max the ropes.

“Phew that’s good to know.” 

“Although Chloe would be great at that. She’s a fantastic artist,”” Rachel said, desperate to try and get some conversation flowing between the two, ‘Mission.Cupid is in jeopardy here people!’ 

“Really?” Max asked Chloe, surprised and a bit excited about that fact that Chloe had an artistic streak, ‘Oh wow I would love to see some of her work.’

“Hmm nah not really,” Chloe said, looking a bit embarrassed.

‘Okay fail,’ Rachel thought, ‘Damn it Chloe you should be over here showing this girl the ropes not me.’ Rachel tried to send subliminal messages to Chloe of this nature but she continued serving customers, avoiding eye contact with both girls as she handed them cups with the order scribbled on them.

‘Okay, time for another classic Amber tactic,’ Rachel thought as she grabbed the cups and let Max take over making the orders.

“We don’t do any of that Starbucks ‘what’s your name’ stuff either, we just put the orders on the cups.”

“Oh, I think it’s kind of a nice touch to have the name thing,” Max said, concentrating hard on the task at hand. She had used her Mom’s coffee machine back home in Seattle so already knew the basics but it was different when you were giving these to paying customers and not just chugging them down yourself before school.

“Well we tried it for a while but then some of the guys just used it as an opportunity to get your number, ‘Oh my name’s Mark, what’s yours beautiful?’” Rachel mimicked.

Max laughed, “Hmm yeah that would be awkward.”

“I bet it would happen to you all the time.”

Max felt Rachel move closer to her but tried to ignore it and concentrate on the task at hand, “Uhhh no I don’t think so.”

Although Chloe was taking an order, she was half listening to Rachel when she heard the compliment and she spun her head round to see the girl moving flirtatiously towards Max. ‘Oh no she did not,’ Chloe thought.

“You’re really pretty Max. I bet you have people flocking over you all the time.” 

Max was equally confused and embarrassed, ‘Wow Rachel is being really nice to me all of a sudden. Does she want to copy my Chem homework or something?’

“Nope, I probably wouldn’t do well with the flocking to be honest.”

“Well that’s why you’re so adorable, everyone loves a quiet, intellect who doesn’t seem to realize how attractive they are. I mean seriously Max those freckles are just to die fo…” 

Both Rachel and Max’s heads spun round to Chloe as they heard the cash register drawer slam shut loudly. The customer behind the counter jumped slightly and looked a bit scared as he made his way round the counter to wait for his order.

“Uhh…drawer jammed,” Chloe offered as an excuse, “Rach, I’m hella bored, can we switch?” Rachel could see that Chloe’s eyes were brimming with rage. 

“Sure thing Chlo!” Rachel replied cheerily and as she passed Chloe she whispered to her, “Worked like a charm.”

Through a fake grin Chloe replied, “Sleep with one eye open,” and she laughed a little to try and not make the exchange seem strange to Max who was thankfully too far out of ear shot to hear what had been said. 

Chloe gave Max some instructions on making the next drink, she was secretly pleased that Rachel had forced her to step in and take her place, ‘Although if she flirts like that with her again in front of me, I have some really damning photos of her that will be finding their way on Instagram.’

“Umm am I doing this right?” Max asked Chloe, she knew she was, she was just desperate to try and get some kind of conversation flowing between the two of them.

“Uh yeah just need to,” Chloe moved her hand over Max’s and pulled the lever down slightly, “There just a little bit more.” Chloe let her hand linger a bit longer before quickly pulling it away, “Yup you’re getting it.”

Max smiled and felt her heart thump wildly at the contact, ‘One tiny hand touch and I’m like a puddle over here,’ she thought. She popped the lid on the drink and handed it to the customer.

“So you like art?” Max asked as she went to clean the utensils she had just used. 

“Uh yeah, I mean I love to draw.”

“Yeah? What do you draw?”

“Hmm anything…everything. Lots of sketches of stuff. I want to be a tattoo artist one day. Probably dumb but…”

“No that’s not dumb, that sounds awesome. I can see you doing something like that.” 

“Well, that’s the dream. Just need to keep scraping the money together to get out of here.”

Max’s heart sank at that, ‘She can’t go! I mean…I just met her,’ she didn’t look up from cleaning so the disappointment didn’t show on her face.

Chloe continued, “I figure maybe in a year or so I’ll have enough and I can go and try and get an apprenticeship somewhere.”

Max let out a sigh of relief, ‘Okay a year, I can handle that. Maybe in a year I will have plucked up the guts to tell her that I am super-duper into her…hmm maybe two years would be better.’ 

“That sounds like a great plan Chloe, I’m sure you’re going to be fantastic at it,” Max said and Chloe felt her heart warm at the sight of the girl smiling at her. Even Rachel had never said something like that, Max sounded like she had no doubts that Chloe could achieve her dream and she sounded so genuine. 

‘Rachel probably never said that to you because she knows you, she knows you’re a fuck up most of the time,’ Chloe thought sadly. 

“I dunno, probably won’t happen but…”

“It will, you just need to believe in yourself. I mean look at me, I’m chasing the dream of being a photographer some day, it might not ever happen, but I’ll never stop chasing it.” 

“I guess so,” Chloe replied.

“Sorry that was a bit Tony Robbins. I just, I know what it’s like to have a passion for something artistic and well, I hate seeing you doubt yourself.”

‘Ugh stop tunneling your way into my heart you sneaky hipster!’ Chloe thought, "Thanks Max. Hey maybe, I mean if you want to, you could check out my stuff sometime? I’d love to see some of your photos too, if that would be cool?”

“I’d love that,” Max said. The two girls stood for a while smiling dopily at each other. 

“Yo Chloeeee!” 

Chloe reluctantly pulled her gaze away from Max’s beautiful blue eyes and looked over to see her friend Justin waving at her from behind the counter. Trevor was next to him and currently engaged in an animated conversation with Rachel. 

“Hey dude,” Chloe said and moved over to fist bump Justin across the counter. 

“Hey Mad-Max, has Chloe been teaching you anymore moves?”

“Hey Justin uhh…” ‘He’s talking about skating Max.’ “Oh…no, not yet anyway.” 

Chloe quirked an eyebrow at Max, ‘Oh I would show you some of my moves any-day,’ she thought. 

“Trevor and Justin were just speaking about going to some…what’s it called again?” Rachel asked.

“Laser-Tag dude!” the boy replied excitedly, “Check it, you get this kick ass gun and you get to run around in this maze in the dark and take shots at each other and…”

“Eh yeah dude, I’ve done Laser-Tag before,” Chloe interrupted.

“Well I haven’t! They’re going tomorrow night, come with, pleeeeease?” Rachel begged.

“Hmm I dunno sounds a bit la…”

“Pfft fine what about you Max?” Rachel asked, cutting Chloe off.

“Uh I’m not sure,” Max was caught off guard, she wasn’t expecting to be invited and she didn’t have much drive to go if Chloe wasn’t going, “I’m not very sporty.” 

“Duh me neither, come on Max it will be fun!” Rachel said.

“Hmm okay, if you’re sure you don’t mind me tagging along? Uh, no pun intended.” 

“No way Max,” Justin said, “There’s a ton of us going, Stella, Brooke, Dana, Warren…”

“Count me in!” Chloe half-shouted. Rachel gave Chloe a knowing look and had a smug smile on her face whilst Max tried desperately to contain her excitement at Chloe’s announcement.

‘No way I’m letting Waldo accidentally on purpose bump into Max in a dark corner of Laser-Tag…that’s my job,’ Chloe thought.

. . . . . 

Rachel left an hour before closing as the place was pretty much a ghost town. 

“Hey Max, do you mind if I go into the back and start counting the takings, it means we can get out of here asap after closing.”

Max shook her head and continued sweeping and humming along to the song that had started playing. Chloe had been secretly watching her do this for the last ten minutes and however adorable it was to see, she also felt a little creepy sneaking glances at her whenever she could.

Whilst counting the money in the back, she snuck another peek at the girl on the CCTV monitor, ‘Yeah because watching her on this is way less creepy Chloe.’ She couldn’t help it, the girl was just agonizingly, overwhelmingly, fantastically ‘Is that even a word?’ beautiful. Every little mannerism, giggle or smile that Max did was making Chloe crush harder and harder on her. She just couldn’t get enough of her, ‘Officially three days you’ve known this chick Price…three.’ 

No matter how many times Chloe tried to talk herself out of feeling this way, all she had to do was think about Max or look at her and it just flew out of the window, ‘Fuck it, can’t help how I feel right?’ Chloe was seriously considering getting the guts up to just ask her on a date, or possibly make a move at laser tag, ‘Oh yeah because Max really needs a chick like you in her life right?’ Chloe frowned at her self deprecating thoughts but knew it was partially true. Her past romantic entanglements had been a few one-night stands and when anyone had tried to introduce the whole 'dating' thing to her in the past, it usually ended with Chloe acting like a dick or moving onto someone else, ‘I wouldn’t do that to her though. Would I?’

Chloe looked at the monitor once more and laughed out loud when she saw that Max was using the broom handle as a microphone, “Oh I gotta see this!” she said out-loud as she sneaked her way back to the counter, stopping at the door to the back room and leaning against the door-frame.

‘A Little Respect’ by Erasure was playing on the radio and Max was in full swing with it, unknowingly being watched the entire time. 

“That you give me no, that you give me no, that you give me no soooo….OH GOD CHLOE!” Max screamed as she had finally spotted the bluenette who was laughing hysterically.

“Sorry…M-Max…I…” Chloe struggled to get the words out through her laughter.

Max felt that right about now would be a great time for an earthquake that would rip apart the ground from under her feet and swallow her whole, “Stop, it’s not funny.” 

Chloe regained her composure when she saw Max’s expression, ’Ugh that pouting lip, Max you have zero idea what you do to me.’ 

“I had no idea cheesy eighties classics did it for ya? Might have to re-think that whole hipster thing.”

“Stop!” Max said, covering her face with her hands.

Chloe moved over to Max and pulled her hands away from her face and held them in front of her, “I’m sorry, but it was really cute.” 

The two girls stood for a while, looking into each others eyes and then Chloe’s eyes glanced down towards Max’s lips. She felt herself take a half step forward, never letting go of the girls hands. 

Max felt her breathing quicken as Chloe moved closer, she felt dizzy at the contact of their hands. She opened and closed her mouth thinking of something to say, ‘Think Max, think…think…’ 

“I…I…It’s closing time,” she said. 

Chloe looked confused for a second and then shook her head out of her Max-trance and looked at the clock. She let go of Max’s hands and said, “Yep, freedom at last,” and moved away from Max to lock the doors. 

‘Wow Max…you know what you could have said that would have been better than that? Anything! Literally anything that couldn’t be interpreted as ‘Please move away from me and let me leave.’ 

“Idiot,” Max unknowingly said aloud.

“Huh?” Chloe asked.

“Uh I’m just gonna get my stuff.” 

“Okay, you want a ride back to your dorms?” Chloe asked hopefully.

“Yeah that would be great.” ‘Finally you managed to say something right you doofus.’

. . . . . .

When Max got back to her dorm she was still beating herself up for ruining what could have been a moment between Chloe and herself, ‘I think it was a moment. I mean, I’ve not really had a lot of moment experiences…okay none…but it felt, electric. Ugh and I ruined it.’

Chloe was equally beating herself up in the truck, ‘I should have just kissed her. Ugh but what if I am reading all the signs wrong, what if she’s not into me? What if she is into me and then I fuck it all up like I usually do and break her heart? Why am I overthinking this so much? When do I ever overthink anything ever?’

Chloe threw herself on her bed when she got home. She heard her phone beep and quickly grabbed it out of her pocket.

Max - Thanks for dropping me off…again

Chloe - No problem 

Chloe frowned at her message, ‘Okay you need to lighten the mood here…’

Chloe - Actually you helped me out with something tonight

Max - I did?

Chloe - Yeah you see, I’d tried to discover…

Max - Don’t 

Chloe - A little something to make me sweeter…

Max - Stop! I really dislike you right now

Chloe - Oh Max…refrain…from breaking my heart!

Max - You will never let me live this down right?

Chloe - Hell no

Max - Well, you know all the lyrics!

Chloe - Why you make-a-me work so hard?

Max - You are so going down at Laser-Tag tomorrow night

Chloe laughed at the message, that stupid dopey grin she had carried on her face all day at work returned to her face, ‘I’d love to be going down on you in other ways…yeah definitely would scare her off if you sent her that…maybe in a few more days…’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there are any major mistakes please let me know...it's currently 12.49am here and I started this chapter at 8pm...also I have to get up for work in 6 hours...but it was completely worth it, I am loving writing this and thank you so much for the support. I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry (not sorry) for the Buffy references (Buffy 4 life) and if you haven't seen it it won't mean much to you (and also if you haven't seen it, please rectify that immediately!) Also if you haven't heard the song that's referenced here...YouTube it, it's a classic. Hope you enjoy, can't wait to start working on the next Chapter.


	5. Tag - You're It

Chloe was having a smoke at the desk in her bedroom whilst she logged on to Facebook. She wasn’t one for a daily check up on everyone’s activities ‘Like I give a shit if you’re eating a salad and it’s the best one you’ve ever had,’ but she would have a quick look now and again.  To say she felt overjoyed to see she had a friend request from Max was an understatement.  

‘Oh so you’ve been doing some spying yourself Miss.Caulfield?’  Chloe accepted and proceeded to have a quick skim through Max’s page, pausing to look at any new photos the brunette had posted, ‘She looks great in every single picture…how does she do that?’  

Chloe frowned when she scrolled further down and saw Warren had posted on her wall.

Warren – Max!  So excited to hear you’re coming to Laser Tag tonight!  Let’s be on the same team! :D

‘Uh how about - I think the fuck not Warren?  Geez the guy is like a dog with a bone.  I hope to god Max isn’t into him, I mean she probably isn’t she never really speaks about him.  Maybe I could set him up with Rachel?’ Chloe laughed out-loud at the thought. 

Her phone vibrated on the desk next to her displaying a new message from Rachel, ‘Speak of the devil,’ Chloe thought.  The message was a screenshot of “Max Caulfield and Chloe Price are now friends” followed by a few love heart emojis that Rachel had added.

‘Wow Rach, that literally just happened.  You don’t miss a beat,’  Chloe chuckled at her friend but ignored the message and shortly after her phone started to ring.  

‘Sorry Rach, not in the mood to be grilled right now.  Oooh speaking of grilled…breakfast time.’  
   
. . . . . .  
   
Chloe was in her room getting dressed after her shower and dancing along to some music playing from her laptop. She heard her phone vibrate and when she checked it she had three missed calls and a message from Rachel, ‘Damn this girl will do anything to get some gossip.’ 

Rachel - Stop ignoring meeeee!

Chloe was typing a reply when she saw a message alert from Max, ‘Sorry Rach, priorities,’ she thought whilst immediately opening Max’s message.

Max - Are you ready to be destroyed today at Laser Tag?

Chloe - Never gonna happen, I am the master. What if we are on the same team anyway?

Max - Oh yeah, good point! I hope I’m on your team since you’re the master ;)

Chloe - Yeah I don’t think I want to be on your team, your Footloose moment last night makes me doubt your killer instincts

Max - Tell anyone and I don’t care if we’re on the same team - you’re going down!

Chloe laughed and set her phone aside, ‘Man she was so cute last night doing that, and even more adorable when she saw that I caught her. Max’s face when she’s embarrassed is officially one of the greatest sights in the world. Hmm…I guess that song is kinda good.’ 

Chloe chewed her lip whilst she looked up the song on YouTube and started playing it out of her laptop. She felt herself start bopping along and grinning as it made her think of Max. It filled her with a warm fuzzy feeling and she sighed audibly, ‘Fuck I am head over heels for this girl.’ She turned up the volume on her laptop and propelled herself onto the bed, hanging over the edge to pull her stash out from under it. 

She pulled out the ashtray and a pre-rolled joint and sat-up and let out a loud scream when she saw Rachel standing in the middle of the room looking at her with wide eyes.

“Fuck Rach! Knock much?!”

“Chloe…what…is…this?” Rachel asked whilst pointing to the laptop but never breaking her bewildered eye-contact with Chloe.

Chloe quickly dashed to the laptop, “Ah shit…fuck...” she managed to silence it, slamming the laptop closed, “Uh, was just on a playlist, must have automatically moved to that.”

Rachel moved to sit on the edge of Chloe’s bed, “Uh-huh.”

“What are you doing here Rach?” Chloe asked whilst sitting back on the bed and lighting her joint, she frowned when Rachel quickly pulled it from her lips and took a draw. 

“Well if you checked your messages or answered your phone you would know I told you I was coming over on my lunch break.”

Chloe took the joint back from Rachel, “Sorry I was busy.”

“Clearly…you had some important eighties ballads to get through.”

Chloe flipped Rachel the bird, “Hey don’t push me, you’re still on thin ice after you were pretty much humping Max’s leg at work last night.”

“Okay A - That’s an exaggeration and B - It was the only way I could get you to go near her. You kinda turn into a nervous wreck around her…it’s cute as hell.”

“Fuck off,” Chloe said with a frown, “I don’t know what happens I just, I get around her and it’s like I can’t fucking function properly. I don’t like it.”

“So when are you gonna ask her out?”

“Ugh, are we still on that?”

“Oh come on, it’s gotta happen at some point. Why not just ask her out and see what happens?”

“Did you not listen to my whole function point earlier? I mean, I want to, I just don’t know how.”

“Well you’ve got the perfect opportunity tonight.”

“Pffft oh yeah when she’s got that floppy haired douce bag following her around like a lost puppy. Perfect opportunity.”

Rachel rolled her eyes, “I thought he wasn’t competition?”

Chloe took a long draw of her joint and handed it to Rachel, “You want me to drive you tonight?” she asked, trying to switch the conversation.

“Nah it’s cool, Justin and Trevor are gonna take me, we can get you on the way?”

“Sounds good. Uh who’s taking Ma…” Chloe started.

“They’re all going with Warren.”

“Ugh!” Chloe said and threw herself back on the bed, “So it’s been a while since I did Laser Tag but is it still not cool if you like, tackle someone to the ground?” 

Rachel raised an eyebrow at Chloe who raised her hands in defense and said, “Just hypothetical dude.”  


. . . . . .

Max was in the waiting area at Laser Tag putting her belongings in a locker and looking at the very unflattering and heavy looking vest she would have to wear, ‘Why did I sign myself up for this? I’m going to look like such a dork in front of Chloe…hmm well not like she hasn’t seen you do embarrassing things so far,’ Max cringed at the memory of Chloe catching her singing last night at work.

“So Max, you excited yet?” Warren asked. He had been trying to get Max psyched for Laser Tag the whole car journey over but it wasn’t working so far. 

Max was about to respond when she saw Chloe walking in, followed by Rachel, Justin and Trevor. 

“Yeah I am actually a bit excited,” Max said. ‘Just not about Laser Tag,’ she thought.

Chloe’s heart raced as they all made their way over to where Max, Warren, Stella and Brooke were standing, ‘Literally every time I see her she gets prettier,’ she thought. 

The group exchanged hello’s and fist bumps while Chloe moved over to stand next to Max, “You ready for this hippie?”

Max laughed, “Bring it on.” 

Chloe scanned the room and noticed some other people she didn’t recognize, “Is this who we are up against?”

“I think so, think there’s enough people here so it’s us vs them,” Max said, delighted that she would be on the same team as Chloe. 

“Oh man, they are going down!” 

“Chlo!” Rachel shouted, “You gotta sign in and put your shit away.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and reluctantly moved away from Max to where Rachel was standing. 

Max let her eyes linger on Chloe’s form as she walked away. She was wearing white tank top, a pair of skinny ripped jeans, a pair of black combat boots and had a beanie pulled over her head. Max watched her swagger over to where Rachel was standing and lean on the counter. ‘She just looks so effortlessly cool…it’s really sexy,’ Max blushed at the thought. 

“Ready to get suited up Max?” Warren asked excitedly.

“Oh, yeah, ready as I’ll ever be,” Max said as she was snapped back to reality.

. . . . . .

Chloe was standing putting her belongings into a locker and watched as Warren was helping Max put her vest on, ‘He better not be getting too handsy with Max or I’m gonna ignore this no physical contact rule for sure.’

Chloe walked over to get her vest and bumped into a girl she didn’t recognize. 

“Shit sorry,” the girl said. 

“No problem,” Chloe took note as the girl ran her eyes up and down the length of Chloe. 

“Awesome ink,” the girl said whilst running her hand down the length of Chloe’s arm, “Where did you get it done?”

‘Yup this chick is totally flirting with me,’ Chloe realized, “Uh actually it was a guy I know who did it but he works at Rebel Ink now - you heard of it?”

“Oh yeah, I got this done there,” the girl said and lifted her top up to reveal a large tattoo which went from her ribcage, down her stomach and disappeared out of view at the top of her jeans.

. . . . . . 

Warren could be giving Max the answers to all of life’s greatest mysteries right now and she would have no clue as her attention was solely focussed on the exchange between Chloe and the girl who Max had dubbed ‘Skanka-saurus-Rex’. Max felt her stomach drop when she saw the girl run her hand the length of Chloe’s arm. 

‘Wow boundaries are a thing you know? You can’t just go up and touch my Chloe…I mean, touch Chloe.’

Warren continued to ramble to Max and she nodded and made a ‘Hmmm’ sound to keep up the pre-tense that she was listening but her eyes kept darting past him. 

She felt her fists clench at her sides when she saw the girl lift up her top and show off her tattoo to Chloe, ‘Oh please could she be anymore obvious? Why don’t you just make out with her right here? Oh wait no, please don’t do that.’

“Oh man check out the lady killer,” Justin said as he gestured towards where Max was already staring, “Ten bucks says we’ll find in a dark corner fraternizing with the enemy.”

Max again felt a sickening drop in her stomach at Justin’s words. 

“Okay guys,” one of the Laser Tag employees shouted across the room, “If you’re all ready I’ll read out the rules and then you can get in there and start having some fun.”

‘Oh yeah so much fun being had here right now,’ Max thought sullenly. She felt her shoulder being bumped and her breath hitched in her throat when she looked to her left and saw Chloe grinning at her. Max glanced behind her and saw that Skanka-saurus-Rex was still eyeballing Chloe. 

“Looks like you’ve got a fan,” Max said.

Chloe glanced behind her and the girl in question winked at her, “Oh her…yeah she’s not my type,” she said, turning her attention back to Max. Chloe’s gaze lingered on Max’s beautiful blue eyes before Max blushed and turned her gaze away, focussing on the instructions the employee was giving them. Chloe continued to sneak glances at Max throughout the lecture, ‘Come on Mad Max, can’t you tell that I’ve only got eyes for you?’ 

. . . . . .

Both teams entered from different sides of the arena. Max’s eyes adjusted to the dark maze-like area they were in. She stood there for some time unsure of what to do whilst everyone else started running to various hiding spots trying to find the 'enemy'. 

“Come on Max don’t just stand there,” Chloe said.

“I feel stupid,” Max admitted. She jumped as someone from the enemy team fired at her and pouted as her vest showed a red cross and started displaying a countdown until she would be able to fire her gun again. 

Chloe crouched down and shot back at the enemy, “Take that fucker! Come on Max!” she said, taking Max’s hand and pulling her to a secluded spot.  
   
Max’s heart raced, not solely from the thumping music or the thrill of running away from the ‘enemy’ but from being hidden in this dark corner of the maze with Chloe, “Stick with me Maximus, I will get us behind enemy lines.”

Max giggled, “Wow you’re really getting into this?”

Chloe looked slightly embarrassed, “Hmm, I guess it’s kinda fun.  You’re not having fun?”

“I dunno,” Max gestured down at the vest that was drowning her small frame, “I look really stupid.”

“Nah you look adorable,” Chloe smiled warmly at her and Max let a sigh escape her lips which Chloe interpreted as annoyance, “Sorry…I mean you look like a real threat, no-one will want to mess with you,” she said with a wink.

Max laughed a little, “No it’s not that I just...don’t take compliments very well I guess.”

Chloe quickly pulled Max down to a crouching level as she saw a few members of the enemy team approaching the area they were hiding in.  Once they had moved out of sight Chloe turned her face and realized how close it was to Max’s, they were merely centimeters away. 

“Well, you should,” Chloe said.

“What?” Max asked confused, her mind too focussed on the close proximity of the gorgeous punks face.

“Take compliments well, I mean…I think you’re awesome Max…and adorable,” Chloe glanced down, avoiding eye contact with the brunette - looking into Max’s eyes for too long would only lead to Chloe losing all self-control and pouncing on the girl, ‘Would that be so bad?’

Max couldn’t think of a reply, all she could think was how much she desperately wanted Chloe to kiss her, but neither girl moved any closer to bridge that gap, both were frozen to the spot.   Max opened her mouth to speak when she heard a loud noise from her vest and saw a large X flashing on it. 

“Gotcha!” a member of the enemy team was leaning smugly over one of the barriers they had hidden behind and took off running.

“No way!” Chloe shouted jumping up, “I’ll avenge you Max!” she said before running after the assailant.

Max laughed as Chloe ran away and noticed that her legs felt like jelly when she returned to a standing position, ‘Well that was a moment for sure. Man I really wish I had the guts to kiss her.’

Not sure where to go next, Max followed the path that Chloe had taken. She spotted the Skanka-saurus-Rex crouching down with her back towards Max. Max aimed and took the shot.

“Ah shit,” the girl said, spinning round to see Max standing there with a grin. Another member of the enemy team jumped from the shadows and shot Max before they both took off looking for another hiding spot. 

Max shrugged, ‘Totally worth it.’

. . . . . 

“So did you have fun Max?” Chloe asked as she walked side by side with the brunette to the car park. They were trailing slightly behind from the rest of the group, Rachel was the only one shooting them glances now and again. 

“Hmm, I don’t think Laser Tag is for me.” 

“Yeah your score was pretty bad.”

“Hey, it was my first time,” Max said, feigning hurt.

“Yeah and you were lucky you had me to protect you,” Chloe said with a wink and bumped her shoulder against Max, throwing her off her balance slightly.

“Yeah you were like my knight in shining…UV vest?”

“I was just trying to impress you with my mad skills.” 

“I’m pretty sure you were only two places above me in the leaderboard.”

“Shit. Well I gotta think of another way to try and impress you I guess.” 

“You don’t have to try,” Max said sincerely, averting her gaze from Chloe.

Chloe felt a huge smile spread across her face and she looked down at the brunette, ‘Man I should have just fucking kissed her earlier.’

“Ready to go Max?” Warren asked. He was standing next to the car whilst Stella and Brooke climbed in the back. 

Chloe felt a wave of sadness flood her as she watched Max move towards Warren’s car, “I’ll see you tomorrow Chlo,” Max said before getting in.

The sadness was replaced by a fluttering in Chloe’s stomach when she realised Max had called her ‘Chlo.’ 

. . . . . .

Rachel was in the back seat of Justin’s car with Chloe. Justin and Trevor were engaged in conversation about video games. Chloe’s head was resting on the window and she was staring out at the street. When she sighed for the tenth time Rachel slapped her on the arm with the back of her hand.

“Ow what the fuck?” Chloe snapped.

“What happened?”

“Nothing!” Chloe said, frowning and rubbing her arm.

Rachel continued to stare at Chloe with a raised eyebrow, waiting for the bluenette to speak up. 

Chloe sighed again, “Okay, there may have been a moment.”

Rachel turned her body around in the car to face Chloe, “Tell me everything.”

“Well we were hiding, crouched down and we had like this moment where we almost kissed but not really, fuck I don’t know. I wanted to kiss her I just…couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“I dunno, I got scared and shit.”

Rachel laughed, “You got scared?”

“Fuck I know right?” Chloe said placing her hands over her face and pulling them down, “What the fuck is happening to me?” 

“She totally likes you back if that’s what you're worried about.” 

“How do you know?”

“Dude, really? If looks could kill that girl who was coming on to you would be six feet under right now.”

Chloe resumed her position of staring out of the window but Rachel could see the huge grin that had spread across the girls face in the reflection of the glass.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make this chapter a lot longer but there is so much to put in it I decided to split it - mostly because I wasn't sure if I would finish it all in time to get an update this weekend. I hope you like this chapter, I am planning on getting the next one up on Monday (I am saying planning because I am also drinking Sunday night as it's a holiday here on Monday so...don't hold me to that.) If I don't get an update up on Monday, then it will be later in the week for sure. Thanks for all the lovely and amazing feedback, comments and kudos - they truly make my day.
> 
> If you want to follow me on the social medias...I mostly post about Pricefield (shocking I know) and with chapter updates - https://alybalyb.tumblr.com/


	6. You are my cinema...I could watch you forever...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please check out the Fan Art I had commissioned for this chapter by the fabulous melonbreadmondays -
> 
> http://melonbreadmondays.tumblr.com/post/161680128017/fanart-commission-for-the-lovely-alybalybees

Max was sitting at her desk in her room scribbling in her journal. It was a hot as hell day and she had the windows wide open and her hair was scraped back in a ponytail. She swiped her bangs out of her face, wiped the sweat from her brow and continued writing.

_‘So after I chickened out at the Laser Tag moment, she walked me to Warren’s car and said she would have to “think of another way to impress me.” Does that mean she wants to impress me as in she likes me? Oh man I really hope so. I haven’t stopped thinking about her since I met her. This is crazy, I mean I’ve never felt like this about a guy ever. Does this mean I’m gay? Does it matter if I am? This is so confusing! I don’t know what to do next, I mean how do you even ask a girl out? Well I guess the same way you would ask anyone out. But what if she thinks I’m just experimenting?’_

Max glanced at her clock and jumped from the desk to get changed for class, “Shit I’m gonna be late!” she said as she threw on a pair of shorts and a loose fitting t-shirt and half-ran to her first class of the day. 

. . . . . .

“Remember you have a week until you need to hand in your portrait assignments and I’ve only had three submissions so far. Get it together people - just because you have a deadline doesn’t mean you have to leave it until the last minute,” Mr.Jefferson scolded his students.

Victoria sat smugly, looking around the room and making it clear that she was one of the golden students who had handed their assignments in early. 

‘Man I don’t even know who I’m going to photograph yet. I would love to ask Chloe, I mean I’ve spent a lot of time looking at her, okay staring at her, and I know she would look fantastic in the shots but…that would be really weird of me to ask. Right?’ Max thought.

Max was overwhelmed with joy when the bell rang signaling the end of her class and she could finally get out of the stuffy room. She had study break for the rest of the day and planned to spend it sitting outside. 

“Hey Max.” 

Max glanced up from packing away her belongings to see Kate standing next to her desk, “Hi Kate, how are you?”

“Oh I’m well Max thank you, although it is awfully hot today.”

“Tell me about it. I was going to sit outside for study period after lunch if you want to join me?”

“Sounds good Max,” Kate said, smiling at the girl and following her out of the room.

. . . . . .

Kate and Max found a good spot under a tree outside and took out their books to begin studying. Max looked up and noticed Warren walking over to them and waving, “Hey Max, Kate,” he said, grinning at the girls. 

“Hey Warren. Did you want to join us?” Kate asked politely and Warren sat down crosslegged in front of the girls, “Max was just saying she can’t find anyone to photograph for her upcoming assignment.”

‘Oh no Kate, I know you’re trying to help but please no,’ Max thought.

“I’ll do it Max!” Warren said enthusiastically.

“Uh, thanks Warren. Can I let you know, I kinda…well I sorta asked someone already,” Max lied. Kate looked at Max confused whilst Warren fixed his eyes on the ground, plucking at the grass with a dejected look on his face, “But I mean I would definitely photograph you, especially when you were showing off your skateboard skills,” Max offered, feeling guilty from Warren’s wounded puppy-dog look.

It seemed to work and the group continued reading from their books and engaging in idle chit-chat now and again. Max felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and took it out. 

Chloe - Max. It is so fucking hot today, why am I in here? And everyone want’s fucking iced tea or iced coffee and if one more idiot asks me for a frappuccino I won’t be responsible for my actions

Max giggled at the message and quickly replied.

Max - I didn’t know you were working today? I can’t imagine what you’re going through since I am sitting outside basking in the glorious sunshine on my study period ;)

Chloe - You’re lucky you’re cute Max or else I’d be hella pissed right now

Max’s stomach summersaulted at Chloe’s message, ‘She’s giving me all the signals that she likes me. Maybe I should just go for it?’

“Man it is hot!” Warren stated.

“Do you guys want to go get a soda or something?” Kate asked.

“You know,” Max started, trying to appear nonchalant, “We could always go to my work since I get a discount? Iced tea all round?” Max smiled as she pictured Chloe’s cute pissed-off expression if she went up and ordered that. 

“Great idea Max!” Warren said enthused whilst packing his books away. 

. . . . . . 

“Why did I agree to do this stupid shitty shift?” Chloe whined to Rachel, she had her body slumped over the counter and her head planted face down on it.

“Because you need the cash and because you were working with me so it obviously would be fantastic. Stop moaning and do something productive.”

Chloe lifted her head up to reply, “Like what? It’s like a ghost town in here, no-one wants to be cooped up in a place like this, on a day like this, including me!”

“Oh really?” Rachel said as she saw Max, Kate and Warren entering the shop.

Chloe bolted upright as she saw Max approach whilst Kate and Warren went off to find a seat. 

“I’m here to make the most of that discount,” Max said, delighted to see Chloe again so soon, ‘Good plan Max, you’re pretty much a genius.’

Chloe swallowed hard as her eyes drifted down Max to her bare legs and then darted back up to her exposed neck which was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. 

“Um…ah…Max,” she said, mentally kicking herself for not being able to form a response, ‘What did I do to piss off a higher power today that they sent this vision to torture me?’ she thought.

“Hey Max!” Rachel said, trying to give her friend a second to collect herself, “Lemme guess, iced teas all round?”

“You bet, sorry Chloe,” Max said with a smirk. 

“Go sit, Chlo can bring them over,” Rachel said and elbowed her friend.

“Uh-huh, yeah I’ll…yeah,” Chloe said, still rooted to the spot.

‘Huh, okay Chloe is being really off with me. Maybe I got this all wrong?’ Max thought and she tried to hide the disappointment in her face as she walked over to where her friends sat.

Chloe was still ogling her the whole way, those shorts were driving her crazy. 

“Hey perv, make drinks,” Rachel said.

“Fuck. What’s wrong with me?” Chloe said, shaking her head out of her trance and starting to make the drinks.

“You want a list or…”

“It's totally not my fault though, I mean, she’s wearing shorts,” Chloe offered.

“On a sweltering hot day? The hussy!” Rachel joked.

“Okay, I officially can’t take this anymore. I’m gonna ask her out.”

“Finally!” Rachel screamed causing Max and her friends to look up. She offered an awkward smile accompanied with a wave and they continued chatting, seemingly oblivious to the conversation behind the counter.

. . . . . 

“Kate can I ask you something?” Max asked when Warren had gone to the restroom.  
   
“Of course Max. What’s up?”  
   
“Have you…ever had a crush?”  
   
“Oh gosh,” Kate started whilst blushing furiously, “I mean…yes I think so, a while ago.”  
   
“How did you like, cope with it?”  
   
“Cope?  I guess I would be a little flustered when he was around and I couldn’t really form a sentence around him but it faded after a few weeks. I don’t think I needed a coping mechanism.”  
   
“But how do you deal with you know, your stomach flopping around and every time you seem them it’s like all you can pay attention to is them everything else is just background noise.  I mean I can barely function around he…them. When I’m not with them, I think about them all the time, like constantly. Is that weird?” Max asked, taking her time to make sure she used gender neutral pronouns.  
   
“Wow Max.  I don’t think I’ve had a crush like that before. That’s kind of like the stuff they write in movies when it’s all love at first sight. I don't think it's weird, it sounds really romantic,” Kate said with a wistful smile.  
   
Max nodded in response but still looked troubled so Kate continued, “Is this about Warren?”  
   
“Oh no…not Warren.”  
   
“Oh okay, then can I ask who?”  
   
Kate was cut off as Chloe approached, placing the drinks down in front of them, “Here you go, three iced teas.  Don’t work too hard Max,” she said with a wink before leaving to join Rachel behind the counter. Funnily enough, Chloe was able to function better around Max with her legs safely tucked under the table and out of sight.  
   
Kate observed as a large smile spread across Max’s face and the brunette leaned her head on one hand watching Chloe walk away.  
   
“Oh!” Kate said and Max snapped her eyes back to the blonde and then began staring intently at the drink in front of her, knowing she had been caught.  
   
“Yeah,” was all Max could muster, “Does that…I mean, are you okay with that?”  
   
Kate laughed a little, “Max, you’re my friend, of course I’m okay with that. Are you okay with it?”

“It’s a lot,” Max admitted, “I’ve never felt this way about a girl before but on top of that, I’ve never felt this way about anyone before.”

“Does she know?”

“Know what?” Warren asked as he planted himself in the seat across from Max.

“Know…what the chemistry assignment was?” Max quickly said.

“Max, how stressed out are you about your photography assignment? We handed in the chem one last week.” 

“Oh…yeah. Phew what a relief.”

“Excuse me, I’m going to the bathroom,” Kate said and offered a smile to Max to try and re-assure her that her coverup had been effective. 

Max was watching as Chloe moved away from the counter and took a seat at the back of the coffee shop, she was still in view of Max as she watched the bluenette flip open a book and start scribbling. ‘She must be on her break,’ Max thought. Chloe glanced up and locked eye’s with Max and smiled, Max returned the smile and the two sat for a while like that just staring at each other with dopey grins on their faces. Max swore from this distance Chloe must be able to hear how loudly her heart was beating in her chest. 

“…so what do you think? Max?”

Max reluctantly drew her gaze away from Chloe and saw that Warren was looking at her with a worried look across his face, ‘Oh shit, how long has he been talking?’

“Uh…what do I think?”

“About Planet of the Apes?”

“It’s a great movie.”

“So you’re in? Awesome!” The boy said and started packing up his things, “I’ll pick you up at seven,” he said before leaving the coffee shop.

‘Uh…what just happened?’ Max thought as she watched the boy leave.

Kate saw that her friends eyes were wide when she sat back down after returning from the bathroom, “Max, what’s wrong? What happened?”

“I think…I just agreed to go on a date with Warren.” 

“But you like Chloe,” Kate stated.

“I know,” Max said and planted her head in her hands, “I should just tell him I don’t want to go, or I should go and make it clear that we’re just friends?”

“Well, it is just the cinema Max, it sounds pretty harmless.”

“Yeah I guess so,” Max replied but was unconvinced.

“I better get back to the dorms. I should let Alice out for a little bit.”

Max grabbed her things and walked Kate to the door and stopped, looking back to see Chloe engrossed in her sketching, “Um do you mind if I meet you back there?”

Kate glanced back and saw Chloe and squeezed her friends arm reassuringly, “Of course not,” she said before leaving. 

. . . . . .

“Watcha doin?”

Chloe jumped when she looked up and Max was standing over her. She could have sworn she just looked at her two seconds ago and she was still sitting with that blonde girl. She slammed the book shut quickly, “Uh…nothing,” and noticed that Max looked slightly dejected at her brash response and decided to elaborate, “Well…I was sketching. I try and do it as much as I can to kinda keep up the momentum you know?” Chloe gestured for Max to sit at the seat opposite her and Max obliged.

“What do you sketch?”

“Hmm anything…everything. I’ve been trying to get some stuff together so I can start putting my work out there for when I actually make it out of this shit pit of a town.”

“That’s great that you’re doing that Chlo. Mr.Jefferson’s always on my case about putting my work out there but I just don’t think it’s good enough.”

“Lemme see,” Chloe said, gesturing towards Max’s bag where she could see the corner of her portfolio peeking out of the top of it. 

Max looked nervous so Chloe offered, “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” Chloe said with a wink, ecstatic that she elicited a blush from the brunette.

Max nodded and handed her portfolio to Chloe who in turn offered her sketch book. 

Chloe flipped through the pages in awe, “Wow Max, this is really fucking good. I can see why your teacher gets on your ass about getting your stuff out there.” 

Max mirrored Chloe’s awe-struck expression as she looked at Chloe’s sketches, “Wow Chloe,” she gasped, “I had no idea you were this talented.” 

Chloe felt her heart swell at Max’s words and glanced up from the page reveling in the sight of Max’s face which was riveted on the pages in front of her.

“Wait…” Max said and stopped at a particular page with a confused look on her face.

Chloe glanced down at the page, ‘Ah fuck, oh shit, how did you forget that was in there?’

“Is that…me?” Max asked as she looked at a rough sketch of her sitting in the booth of the coffee shop with Kate in front of her. 

“Uh…” Chloe said and pulled the book back, spinning it round in front of her, “Yeah, like I said, anything and everything.” 

‘Fuck Chloe, you’ve given her enough ammunition for a restraining order,’ she thought as her leg bounced up and down nervously. 

Max sensing her nervousness pulled her portfolio back and turned to the last page. She spun it back round to Chloe and pushed it under her field of vision. Chloe glanced over the page and saw a photo of herself skateboarding, although she was far away in photograph, she could see that Max had moved the camera away from Warren to focus on Chloe in the background. 

Chloe’s nervousness dissipated and a huge smile spread across her face as she looked up to see a very red faced Max staring back at her. 

“Chloe, I know you’re on your break but…I really need to pee and I can’t leave the front,” Rachel said from beside her, her legs continually crossing over each other as she tried to contain her bladder. 

In truth, Chloe’s break was over ten minutes ago and Rachel didn’t want to interrupt the moment but the call of nature was too loud. She ran to the bathroom as Chloe nodded and moved behind the counter. 

“I better get back to the dorms,” Max said and threw her bag back over her shoulder. 

“Uhh Max? What are you up to tonight?”

“Oh…nothi…” Max started and then remembered, “Uh I made plans with Warren but…”

Chloe’s heart felt like it had been smushed in her chest, “Oh cool, have fun,” she said and turned away to busy herself with cleaning the coffee machine.

“Uh I mean, it’s not like set in stone or whatever,” Max offered. 

“Uh-huh. Well I’m sure you’ll have a great time,” Chloe said, not looking at the brunette. She didn’t look up again until she heard the door close behind Max. She tossed her cleaning rag to the side, hitting an approaching Rachel.

“Fuck I’m sorry but I needed to pee!” she said.

“What?” Chloe snapped.

“Jesus christ what crawled up your ass?”

Chloe took a deep breath and said, “Nothing, I was going to ask Max out but she has plans with Warren.” 

“And now you’re pouting?”

“No,” Chloe said, crossing her arms over her chest, “It’s just, he’s not good enough for her.”

“Did she say it was a date?”

“She didn’t have to.”

“Chloe, I’m your best friend but…you’re acting like an asshole.”

Chloe shot daggers at her friend but her gaze quickly softened as she became more self-aware, “Shit I know. Fuck I was a total dick to Max when she was leaving too.”

“Yeah that’s a great way to get a girl to like you…actually, it kinda is sometimes,” Rachel said as she stroked her chin thoughtfully.

Chloe was still pouting and Rachel moved over rub her friends back to console her, “Come on Chlo, we can do something fun tonight to take your mind off of it. We can come up with a fool proof plan for how you are going to ask this girl out, sweep her off her feet and then we can talk colors for my dress when I’m your maid of honor.”

Chloe’s eyes widened, “Eh…can we just start with the asking her out part first?”

. . . . . . 

“You know when I said I would take you out and cheer you up, I didn’t think you were going to make me pay for you to eat your pain,” Rachel said as she looked over at her friend who was eating a hot dog, balancing a box of popcorn on her knees and had just devoured a tub of ice cream. 

“Mffyou toshure thisgarbjidge,” Chloe attempted to say through her chewing.

“Once more from the top.”

Chloe swallowed, “It was you who wanted to see this garbage. Who wants to see a bunch of fucking monkeys running around?”

“Clearly, you’ve never seen this movie before. Plus it was the only thing on at this time other than that chick flick that you said, and I quote, ‘I would rather gouge my eyes out with a rusty spoon than watch that shitty fucking garbage,’ in front of those two kids I might add.”

Chloe shrugged and threw her hotdog wrapper on the empty seat next to her, wiping her hands clean and planting her feet on the seat in front of her. 

“And when he asked us where we we wanted to sit did you really have to say ‘Back row so the kinky shit can do down'?” Rachel asked, scowling at her friend.

“Did you see his face? We pretty much made his night,” Chloe said, laughing. Her laughter quickly died as she saw Warren and Max walking towards the aisle. 

“Fuck…shit, duck!” Chloe said, pulling Rachel’s legs down as they both shuffled lower in their seats and out of view.

“Why are we ducking?” Rachel asked in a whisper.

“Max and dick face just walked in. Fuck, he took her to the cinema? Oh yeah, totally not a date.” 

“So…why are we ducking?” 

“Because she’s gonna think I followed her here or some shit.”

“What? She didn’t tell you where she was going!” 

“Oh yeah,” Chloe realized and shrugged, pulling herself back up. Max and Warren were seated five rows directly in front of them. The rest of the cinema was pretty much empty, save for a few couples dotted around. 

“Do you want to go?” Rachel asked, grabbing her bag.

“Are you crazy? I can’t walk out now, she will know I hid from her and she’ll think I’m leaving because she’s on a date.” 

Rachel sighed and raised her eyes to the ceiling, “Remember when I said you were cute with a crush? Yeah I take that back now. Annoying, you’re annoying with a crush.”

“Bite me.”

The movie started and Chloe tried to focus on the screen but her eyes were burning a hole in the back of Warren’s skull. 

Rachel leaned over and whispered to Chloe, “It doesn’t look like a date, they’re not even holding hands.”

“How can you tell from here?”

Rachel stood up and Chloe tried to grab her hand to stop her as she watched her friend move forward, crouching in the aisle a row behind Max and Warren, she quickly stood up and glanced down, returned to crouching and back to Chloe, “Yeah they’re not holding hands.” 

“I can’t believe you just did that.”

“Well it’s better than you sitting here torturing yourself.”

The movie continued for another ten minutes before Chloe asked, “Are you sure they weren’t holding hands?”

. . . . . . 

The movie had been on for an hour and Chloe just wanted to get it over with. She had debated leaving halfway through but she also wanted to know if anything was about to go down with Max and Warren. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and was shocked to see she had a text from Max. Rachel scowled at her as she pulled out her brightly lit phone and Chloe flipped her the bird as she quickly read the message.

Max - Hey Chloe, what you up to?

Chloe grinned with delight, ‘Sneaky Max, I didn’t even notice you take your phone out. So she’s on a date but she’s messaging me? Oh yeah Warren, you are going down.’

Chloe was about to respond when she glanced up and saw Warren do the classic ‘yawn and stretch.’ A mixture of jealousy and a desire to protect Max filled Chloe and without realizing it, she picked up her half full popcorn tub and flung it at Warren, hitting him in the back of the head. 

Rachel watched the exchange and quickly ducked down again, Chloe followed a split second later. 

“Chloe, what the fuck?” she attempted to whisper scream at her friend.

“Shhhhh!” Chloe said, her eyes pleading with her friend.

Warren turned round but there was no-one in sight, “Where did that come from?”

Max glanced round too, “Maybe some kids ran in or something?” 

‘Or you know, a guardian angel removed your arm from me before I had to,’ she thought.

“Huh. Hey, I really need to pee, will you be okay for five minutes?”

“Uh yeah Warren, I’m pretty sure I’ll survive,” Max responded and watched as the boy walked away. She breathed out a sigh of relief, this was the most awkward not-date ever. Also, in Warren’s eyes, it was clearly a date. 

‘I can’t believe I could have maybe hung out with Chloe tonight if I hadn’t agreed to this,’ she glanced at her phone, ‘If she’s even speaking to me.’ 

She yelped as the bluenette in question jumped from the row behind her into Warren’s now vacant seat, “So check it out Max, I’m at this shitty movie where this dude is like, getting treated like crap by a bunch of monkeys.”

“Chloe? How…where?” Max asked confused. 

“Hey Max,” Rachel said from behind her and reached forward to take some of the brunettes popcorn.

Warren returned and was shocked to see Chloe and Rachel sitting there, he greeted the girls and took a seat next to Chloe since Max was on the aisle seat. Chloe felt bad for about six seconds until she turned and saw the brunette grinning at her, “I’m really glad you’re here.” Max said, without thinking how it might sound in front of Warren.

“Me too,” Chloe agreed and grinned back at Max before planting her feet on the seat in front of her, ‘Sorry Waldo, I ain’t movin.’

. . . . . . 

The group made their way out to the carpark after the movie, “I can’t believe I sat through all of that, and there wasn’t even an ending!”

“But that’s the point,” Warren started, “he’s trapped in that forever, there’s no way out.”

“It’s stupid,” Chloe said, daring the boy to continue the debate.

“No it’s not it’s…”

“How are you guys getting back to the dorms?” Rachel interjected, wanting to break up a potential argument.

“My wheels weren’t playing ball today so we got the bus over,” Warren said. 

“You want a ride back?” Rachel offered.

Chloe looked at Rachel with wide eyes, ‘Dude, why are you trying to cut my evening with Max short? Oh yeah because I just crashed her date,’ she thought.

“Oh shit Chloe you know what I realized?” Rachel said, “I uh, left my bag at work. My bag of really important stuff.”

Chloe looked at her with one eyebrow raised, “Uh okay…you want me to go get your bag on my way home?”

“That would be great. Oh but wait, you’ll need someone to help with the alarm, you know how it has that setting where you need someone to hold the door and someone to run in the back and get it. You know…that setting,” Rachel’s eyes were pleading with Chloe, ‘For the love of god woman, please get a clue,’ she thought.

“Oh!” Chloe said when the penny finally dropped, “Shit that is quite the quandary,” she said rubbing the back of her neck.

“I can come with you?” Max offered.

“Great idea Max! I’ll drive Warren back and you and Chloe can go in past the shop, you guys are the best.”

“But why don’t we all just go…” Warren started. 

“I don’t have time, I need to get back to the dorms and…feed my…fish.” 

“Uh…okay,” Warren said, unconvinced, “Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Max,” he said and followed Rachel to her car.

Chloe and Max began walking towards Chloe’s truck, “There’s no bag is there?” Max asked.

‘Busted,’ Chloe thought, “Nah, I think Rach just thought you were having a shitty date and wanted to save you from that awkward kiss goodbye moment,” she lied.

“Yeah, I’ll have to thank Rachel for that later,” Max said giggling, “I didn’t even know it was a date until I was, well, on the date.”

“Did you want it to be?” Chloe asked, dreading the answer she would get.

“No. I’m not into Warren like that.” 

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief and Max continued, "So…what about your laser tag girl? Any dates on the horizon with her?” Max asked while they were walking back to the truck, ‘Yeah that was a totally not obvious and smooth way to dig for info Max,’ she thought.

"Oh her…nah I wasn’t into her.”

Max tried to contain her inner glee, "Really?"

Chloe took a deep breath and continued, “No, the thing is…I’m actually really into someone right now.“

Max felt sick at Chloe's words, 'Of course she has another prospect on the horizon Max.  Damn it you should have told her how you felt when you had the chance!'

"Oh," was all Max could muster in response.

"Yeah.  I'm pretty sure she has no idea though."

"Hmm," Max replied. 'I really don't want to hear about this,’ she thought.

"Yeah, I mean I've tried dropping hints but they don't seem to be landing," Chloe said. ‘Like this big huge one, right now Max. Seriously,’ she thought.

Max approached the passenger door and waited for Chloe to open it but Chloe continued, "She's really pretty, smart, funny..."

"Uh-huh," Max cut her off, leaning her back against the passenger door with her eyes firmly planted on the ground.

“I mean it's quite traumatic for me actually.”  

Max looked up at Chloe confused but still said nothing.

“I mean I never thought I'd fall for a hipster,” Chloe said with a smirk and moved closed to Max and watched as her eyes started to go wide with the realization.

"Oh,” was all Max could muster in response. Of all her moments of not being able to function around Chloe, this was officially the most intense one.   

Chloe moved closer towards the girl and reached forward, taking Max's hands in her own, interlocking their fingers, "So I've been thinking maybe I need to be more direct, make it really obvious, you know?"

"Yeah...yeah obvious is...good," Max said, swallowing hard, she could feel her heartbeat racing in her chest and worried for a second if she was going to pass out because she was pretty sure she had forgot how to breathe.

Chloe moved one hand out of Max's grasp and tucked a lock of hair behind the brunettes ear, letting her thumb graze the girls cheek as she moved her hand down slowly.  Chloe gulped and said, "Max..."

"Chloe, just kiss me already,” Max pleaded.

Chloe didn't hesitate as she moved forward, cupping the brunettes cheek and planting her lips firmly on Max's.  Max’s arms immediately laced around the taller girls neck and she could feel the smile on Chloe’s lips which were finally against her own. Chloe pulled back slightly and moved in again delighted in the soft moan that escaped Max’s lips. She pressed Max firmly against the truck door and ran her hands down the girls sides until they rested on her hips.

Max’s hand moved to the back of Chloe’s hair and she ran her fingernails across the back of Chloe’s scalp emitting a groan from the bluenette who then lightly ran her tongue across Max’s bottom lip, asking for permission. Max deepened the kiss, feeling her insides tighten as she felt Chloe’s tongue sweep across her own. She moved her hands from Chloe’s shoulders and ran them down Chloe’s front until she grasped the open leather jacket and used it as leverage to pull the girl even closer to her. She felt like she couldn’t get physically close enough to this girl who she had been daydreaming about for days.

Chloe could feel herself getting ridiculously turned on and was trying to resist the urge to slip her thigh in between Max’s legs or cup her ass, ‘Keep it classy Chloe,’ she thought. She reluctantly pulled away and rested her forehead against the brunettes. 

“Wow,” Chloe said breathlessly.

“Yeah,” Max agreed, still unable to form a more cohesive response.

“You have no idea how many times I wanted to do that,” Chloe admitted.

“Oh I think I would have a fair idea,” Max said whilst releasing another shaky breath.

“Come on, let’s get you back to Blackhell,” Chloe said before giving the brunette a swift kiss and opening the passenger door to let her inside.

. . . . . . 

“I can’t believe I had to make it that obvious Max,” Chloe said during their short drive back to campus. 

“Sorry, I mean I thought I knew, I just didn’t know, you know?”

Chloe laughed, “Makes complete sense to me,” she said and pulled up outside campus. 

Max unbuckled her belt and Chloe moved to lean over her causing the brunette to gulp, “But just to make it really clear,” she said before capturing the brunettes lips with hers again in a passionate kiss. Max moaned at the contact, grasping the back of Chloe’s jacket. Chloe’s hands were tangled in the brunettes hair as her tongue dominated the girls mouth. 

Eventually they pulled away breathlessly. 

“Sorry, were you trying to tell me something or…?” Max asked with a smirk but was quickly cut off when Chloe leaned in and kissed her again.

. . . . . 

After what had felt like only minutes of passionately making out in Chloe’s truck - Max reluctantly made her way back to the dorms. In actuality it had been a good half hour which left the truck with some steamed up windows and both girls with disheveled hair and slightly bruised lips. Chloe watched with a smile on her face as Max walked back to her dorm and drove off when she was out of view. Her phone began ringing when she was driving and she answered, putting it on speaker phone and dropping it in the cup holder.

“So thank you Rachel?” came the voice from the other end.

Chloe laughed, “Thanks Rach, good save there.”

“So…?”

“Yeah you didn’t leave your bag at work sorry.”

“Chloe!” 

“I mean we searched and we searched…”

“Chloe!” 

“But I guess we were too busy making out to find it.”

“You do know there was no…wait…oh my god.” 

Chloe winced as the loud scream her friend emitted echoed around her truck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always a huge thank you for the kudos and the comments - they mean the world to me, truly. I hope the kiss was worth the wait, there is loads more where that came from don't worry things are just getting started! I'm loving writing this and I hope you continue to enjoy and any feedback is greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Aiming to update next week - I'm going to visit family this weekend so I'll be a busy bee until then. 
> 
> Finally - follow me on Tumblr if you want to see any chapter updates or see me continuously re-blog Pricefield related things (shocking I would do that, I know) https://alybalyb.tumblr.com/


	7. Skinny Decaf Latte

“Chloe get your ass outta…” Joyce started and then turned as she heard someone clear their throat behind her. She gaped in awe at her daughter who was standing leaning on the door to the kitchen with a cup of coffee in her hand. 

“Hey Mom,” Chloe said with a smirk and resumed making her breakfast.

Joyce walked into the kitchen, “Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?”

“Oh ha ha,” Chloe grumbled, pouring a mug of coffee for her Mom and handing it to the still stunned woman, “Want some breakfast?” the blue haired girl asked. 

Joyce nodded and made her way over to the breakfast table, “Well…I could get used to this.”

She watched as her daughter prepared breakfast – she couldn’t remember the last time she had done this for her. Chloe was blissfully unaware of her mother's quizzical stares as she cooked some scrambled eggs and plated it up along with some bacon and toast. As hard as she had tried, she wasn’t able to sleep in this morning - she was excited about the fact that she was going to see Max later today. She felt lighter, happier and…dare she say it, god-damn giddy at the events that had occurred the night before. 

“Has something happened?” Joyce asked, intrigued to find out the source of Chloe’s unusually good mood.

Chloe turned around with two plates in her hands, placing one in front of her mother and taking a seat at the table opposite her with her own, “Jesus is it a crime to make breakfast in this house?” she asked, taking a bite of her toast. She wasn’t so out of character that she was going to gush about her gigantic crush in front of her Mom.

Joyce eyed her daughter suspiciously over the rim of her mug as she took another sip of her coffee.  Chloe watched as her mothers eyes suddenly shot wide open.

“Whampht?” Chloe asked through a big mouthful.

“You’ve met someone,” Joyce said, slamming her mug on the table.

Chloe gulped down her food in one painful lump which did nothing to help her already flustered state,  “Uh…no.”” 

“Who is it?  Have I met her?  What does she do?”

“Oh my god Mom you’re worse than Rachel,” Chloe tried to brush off her mothers questions but Joyce sat there expectantly and Chloe rolled her eyes and continued, “You haven’t met her and she's a student okay?” 

“Ooh an academic? That’s fantastic Chloe!  When do I get to meet her?”

“It’s not even a…we’re not even a thing yet, please just drop it okay?”

Joyce decided not to press any further incase she threw Chloe into one of her trademark strops. 

. . . . . .  
   
Max was smiling to herself as she stood enjoying the feeling of the warm water cascading down her. She’d awoken in a ridiculously good humor - especially for a day when she had back to back classes and then a shift at the coffee shop. Nothing could ruin Max’s good mood today as her brain was completely flooded with memories of her first kiss with Chloe the night before. 

‘Well…actually my first proper kiss with anyone. I figure I have enough daydream material to get me through classes and then tonight I get to see the real thing,’ Max thought, her cheeks beginning to hurt from the grin that had been plastered on her face since she had got up that day. 

She felt her stomach knot slightly at the thought of seeing Chloe later.

‘I hope it’s not awkward. I hope I maybe get a second kiss. Not like, right away…that would be unprofessional…even though it would be awesome.’

“Hello? Other people need to shower too!” 

Max reluctantly turned off the water when she heard Courtney grumbling from the other side of the curtain. She quickly got changed and exited the shower booth, yawning and rubbing her eyes as she walked out of the shower room.  

“Morning Max!”

Max yelped and jumped back, staring up at the grinning figure of Rachel who had stepped in front of her.

“M-morning Rachel,” Max replied, and continued to walk to her room with Rachel matching her pace, close by her side. 

Max stopped walking and looked at her quizzically, she was still wearing the same grin on her face and Max rolled her eyes, “So…Chloe told you?”

Rachel nodded emphatically, “Totally.  So…?”

Max stared back at Rachel expectantly, “So…?”

“So what’s the latest?  Have you spoken to her?  Are you guys gonna go out?  Come on Max, spill!”  
   
“Uh…” Max began and then looked nervously around the now crowded dorm hall, “Can we go into my room?”

Rachel eagerly followed Max to her room and planted herself on the girls bed. 

“Rachel, you haven’t like, been telling everyone about this have you?”  Max asked whilst nervously rubbing her arm. 

“No I’m not a total gossip Max.  Why?  I mean, you’re not regretting it are you?” Rachel asked, her eyes full of worry.

“No, it’s not that, it’s just…it’s a lot,” Max said, letting out a shaky breath and sitting on her sofa.

Rachel furrowed her brow in concern, “Is it the girl thing?”

Max nodded, “A little, but…”

“Max you can talk to me.  I know I’m Chloe’s best friend so obviously I am biased but…”

Max rubbed the back of her neck nervously, “It’s not Chloe, Chloe’s amazing,” Max said, a small smile gracing her lips as she focussed her eyes on the carpet under her feet.

Rachel grinned at the brunettes words but stayed silent, waiting for Max to continue.

“It’s just really intense, like what I’m feeling and I just don’t want it going all around the school yet until I know what it is, you know?”  Rachel nodded and Max continued, “I mean I don’t know what it is yet.  I mean she likes me, I guess, I mean I hope…”

“Max, she’s totally into you.”

Max continued, “I’ve seen the way some girls are with her…she could literally have her pick of the bunch…I mean why would she…” Max stopped herself, annoyed that she had blurted out all her insecurities to Chloe’s best friend of all people.

“Max, are you crazy, have you seen the way Chloe looks at you? Stop second guessing yourself okay? I mean, this is meant to be the fun part, right?” Rachel said and got up from the bed to sit next to Max, placing a hand on her shoulder to comfort the girl. 

“I know, you’re right. Thanks Rachel.” 

Rachel stood up to leave, “I better get ready for class. Max, I totally respect you wanting to keep it on the down-low for just now so don’t worry about me blabbing.”

“Thanks Rachel,” Max said, watching as the girl left the room. 

A second later Rachel’s head re-appeared from the doorway, “Oh Max! I totally nearly forgot to say…if you hurt her, I will have to cut you.”

Max eyes widened and she stared open mouthed at Rachel, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry – Rachel’s expression was unreadable and then in a split second she switched right back to her usual breezy self. 

“Okay see ya!” she said as she closed the door behind her.

Max sat on the sofa in a daze, attempting to gather her thoughts when she heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand. She opened the message, her heart pounding in her chest and her stomach churning when she saw she had seven messages from Chloe. 

‘Oh man, what if this is a ‘Sorry about last night, I like you just not in that way,’ message ramble?’ 

Chloe - So turns out there’s a sequel to that monkey film

Chloe - Like I said, the original ending clearly blew and the people needed answers

Max giggled and breathed a sigh of relief as she continued to read.

Chloe - So you’re not like freakin out about last night right?

Chloe - You can totally tell me if you are it’s totally cool

Chloe - I mean it would suck - but it’s totally cool

Chloe - I’ll stop now sorry

Chloe - But yeah…monkey sequel

Max laughed out loud at Chloe’s messages. 

‘Man she can be really cute sometimes. Maybe she’s as nervous about all this as I am? Better put her out of her misery.’

. . . . . .

Chloe was pacing her room, her hands locked behind her head, loud metal music blasting from her stereo as she shook her head continuously - utterly disappointed in herself.

“Seven. Seven messages. I messaged Max seven times,” she said out-loud, face-palming herself a little too firmly, “Ow. Idiot!” 

Chloe threw herself on her bed, pouting as she pulled her phone off the nightstand, checking it for the millionth time since message number seven. She instantly sat up when she saw she had two messages from Max and quickly unlocked her phone.

Max - I’m not freaking out, but good to know that it would be totally cool ;)

Max - Monkey sequel huh? Is this your way of trying to ask me to the cinema?

Chloe audibly breathed out a sigh of relief, glad that she hadn’t scared the shy brunette off. 

‘Okay Chloe, she’s cool, now it’s your turn to act cool,’ she thought as she typed out a reply.

Chloe - Pffft please, our first date would never be something predictable and boring like that!

Chloe - Incase you don’t get that hint, that’s me askin you on a date

Chloe - If you want to

Chloe literally threw her phone to the end of the bed to stop herself sending yet another message.

‘What is wrong with you? When did you get possessed by the spirit of a mushy, love-struck puppy?’

Her phone vibrated and as much as she tried to force herself to play it cool and wait a while before reading the message, she quickly dove to the end of the bed to see Max’s response.

Max - I would never expect anything boring or predictable from an enigma like yourself ;) 

Max - Incase you don’t get that hint, that’s me saying yes :P

Chloe resisted the urge to fist pump towards the sky like she was in a cheesy eighties movie - she still had some self respect left.

. . . . . .

Chloe’s eyes kept darting to the clock behind Rachel’s head as she made some drinks for the customers and attempted to focus on the story her friend was telling her.

“So then I said, ‘You expect me to invite you to go camping with us when I know you took that iPod from him?’ I mean I saw it right there in his car.”

“Hmmm,” Chloe said, glancing from the clock to the door, watching as Max approached the shop. 

Max entered and her eyes locked with Chloe’s, the brunette smiled as she walked over to the counter, pushing her bangs out of her eyes and looking away again after a brief moment. Chloe sighed and smiled back at the brunette as she watched her greet Rachel and enter the staff area at the back. 

‘What I wouldn’t give to run back there, push her against those damn lockers and…’

“And then he said, 'Well I just gave birth to a Unicorn so I’m actually in a lot of pain right now',” Rachel’s voice broke Chloe from her thoughts.

“What?” Chloe asked, her eyes finally meeting Rachel’s.

The girl giggled and playfully pushed Chloe’s shoulder, “Man you are smit.”

“Am not,” Chloe said, wiping down the counter after she was finished serving the customers.

“Hey,” Max said from behind Chloe. The blue-haired girl turned around and her face blushed to crimson as her eyes met Max’s again.

“Hey,” she replied, a dopey grin covering her face.

Chloe glanced back at Rachel who was looking at her with a knowing smile on her face.

“Time for you to clock off?” Chloe asked.

“Yup, don’t let me cramp your style,” Rachel said as she made her way through to the back to grab her belongings, “And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” she called as she made her way out of the shop. 

Max blushed and was thankful that some customers had approached the counter giving her time to collect herself. 

. . . . . .

The stream of customers had been quite steady for a Monday night. Chloe was slightly annoyed that she hadn’t had a chance to really talk to Max other than small-talk since they started their shift together. She was however grateful for all the moments when their fingers grazed each others whenever Max would pass her an order or when they would have to pass each other behind the counter and they would brush up against each other ever so slightly and definitely intentionally. 

Inevitably there was a lull in the night and both girls leaned against the counter whilst Chloe doodled idly on the back of a used receipt. She avoided eye contact with the girl as she asked, “So…this date?”

“Yeah?” Max asked, amused.

Chloe glanced up at the girl and then back down at the paper, drawing little spirals across it, “Just was wondering when you were free?” she asked, shrugging and attempting to appear nonchalant.

“Tomorrow night?”

Chloe grinned and looked at the brunette, “That keen to get me alone huh?” she asked with a wink.

Max pushed Chloe’s shoulder, “You’re an asshole.”

“Yup,” Chloe agreed and fixed her eyes back on the paper in front of her as she moved her free hand across the counter and placed it on top of Max’s, running her thumb across the girls knuckles, “But I’m totally your asshole.”

Max felt her heart speed up from both the contact and Chloe’s words and smiled at the girl who kept her eyes focussed on the paper in front of her. Max interlaced her fingers with Chloe’s and bit her lip, debating asking the question that was at the fore-front of her mind. As strongly as she felt about the girl, she still didn’t really know a lot about her and she wanted to remedy that. 

Chloe glanced up and saw the brunette chewing her bottom lip, ‘Fucking cute as hell,' she thought before breaking the girl from her thoughts, “What’s up Max?”

“Um…nothing.”

“Spill,” Chloe said, pushing the paper and pen away and giving her full attention to Max.

“Have you…dated a lot?” Max asked, looking anywhere but at the girl in front of her, “I mean not that it’s important I guess, I’m just…curious. Because I mean you’re the first girl I’ve…but I’m guessing I’m not…”

“Max chill, it’s fine,” Chloe said, “I’ve never really dated before to be honest. I mean I’ve hooked up with a few girls yeah but nothing serious.” 

“Huh,” Max replied. She didn’t feel any better from knowing that Chloe had hooked up with 'a few girls'. 

'What’s a few? Three, four...seventy-six?’ Max thought. 

“Wait - so you’ve never been on a date with a girl before?” Max asked as she ignored the seventy-six women who had seduced this beautiful goddess before her and focussed on the positives.

Chloe moved closer to Max, noticing the girl was happy with this new information, “Nope. You’re totally going to pop my dating cherry,” she said with a wink.

Max laughed awkwardly in response, “Ha yeah…”

‘Oh Chloe if only you knew…I’m definitely not fessing up to that right now.’

“So have you dated a lot before…?” Chloe asked but was interrupted when a customer walked into the shop, “Hold that thought,” she said, dropping the girls hands whilst Max let out a sigh of relief.

. . . . . .

It was coming to the end of the shift and the shop was quiet again. Chloe was counting the minutes until she could get the cute brunette alone again on their drive back to her dorms. 

‘I hope Max is ready for make out session round two.’

Chloe was busy cleaning one of the coffee chambers, keeping the other one free for an inevitable last minute asshole who wanted a coffee at this hour of the night. 

“Hey Max? So you never answered my question earlier,” Chloe asked the girl who was currently out of view and busy sweeping the store front. 

“Um…about?” Max stalled.

“Don’t play coy Miss.Caulfield,” Chloe said, standing on her tip-toes to look over the machine at the girl and give her a wink.

Max breathed out and focussed on her task at hand before muttering, “No.”

“No?”

“I haven’t dated a lot before.”

“Not a lot? As in...?”

“As in I’ve not dated before.”

Chloe moved further round the counter to look at the girl, “Are you kidding me? What - is everyone in Seattle blind?” 

Max giggled, “I just never met anyone I wanted to date before that’s all.” 

“Oh,” Chloe said, returning to her task and hiding her huge grin behind the coffee machine.

‘Wow…Max never dates but, she wants to date me? I’m so freaking lucky,’ she thought as she continued her task of cleaning the filter, running it under the hot water. 

‘Wait. If Max has never dated…does that mean she's never? Wait…so she’s a…’

“Ah shit, fuck, son of a bitch!”

Max bolted to the bluenette when she heard the girl yell out in pain, “Chloe?! Are you okay, what happened?”

Chloe was shaking her hand out in front of her and scowling, “Yeah! Just didn’t move my hand when I pressed the stupid fucking button and kinda poured hot water all over it.”

Max grabbed the girls arm and led her to the sink running the cold water and forcing her hand under it, “You need to keep it under cold water.” 

Chloe pulled her arm back, “I’ll be fine!”

Max forced her hand back again, “Chloe, you need to keep it under so it doesn’t get worse.”

Chloe frowned and quickly pulled it back again, pouting, “But it’s freaking cold!”

Max rolled her eyes and forced the girls hand back again, “Don’t be a baby,” she said and laughed as she saw the blue haired girl continue to pout as her hand was forced under the water.

Max leaned in and kissed her cheek, causing the blunette to finally stop scowling, “Better?” Max asked.

“Hmm…maybe a little,” Chloe said.

Max leaned in again placing another soft kiss on Chloe’s jawline, just next to her earlobe, “Hmm how about now?” she asked, keeping her lips close to the girls skin.

Chloe swallowed audibly, Max’s soft kiss had sent shivers down her spine, “Hmm yeah getting there.”

Max leaned in again, placing a kiss slightly lower onto the girls neck, “Now?” 

Chloe was biting her lip and breathed out, “Hmm yeah definitely better,” she said as she moved her head and locked eyes with the brunette. 

Max’s eyes drifted longingly to Chloe’s lips and she leaned in, their lips had barely made contact when they heard a gaggle of voices entering the shop. 

Both girls quickly broke apart and Chloe turned off the tap and removed her hand, “Uh, can you hold the fort while I go take care of this?”

“S-sure,” Max said, wiping her sweaty palms on her apron and collecting herself before moving to the counter to serve the customers.

“What can I get for…” Max started and then felt her stomach drop as she saw Victoria standing there with her arms folded whilst Courtney and Taylor stood behind her.

“Maxine, what a surprise to see you working here. Oh wait no, not really, I can totally picture you behind a counter like this, probably for the rest of your life,” Victoria snarked as Courtney and Taylor giggled from behind her.

Max narrowed her eyes, “What do you want Victoria?” 

Victoria placed a hand on her chest, gasping, “Wow is that any way to treat a paying customer? Two large caramel lattes and I want a skinny, decaf latte. Think you can handle that?” Victoria asked whilst sliding a bill across the counter. 

Max punched the keys on the cash register a little too vigorously and slammed the drawer shut, handing Victoria her change. She wished she could just tell the girl to get the hell out. If she had only been five minutes later the door would have been locked. 

‘And hopefully she would have walked right into it with her stupid face,’ Max thought.

Max quickly made up the drinks and placed them on the counter for the clique to collect, desperate to get the girls out of the shop. Victoria shot Max a look before gathering the cups and leaving with her lackeys following close behind.

Chloe emerged, a small bandage around her fingers, “Found some of that burn gel stuff, figured I could…” she started and then saw the look of sadness on the face of the brunette, “Hey, what’s wrong?” Chloe asked, concerned, placing a comforting hand on the small girls shoulder. 

“Noth…” Max started but was interrupted as Victoria burst back through the doors. 

“Excuse me but how fucking stupid are you? I said skinny. This is not skinny,” she said, slamming the cup on the counter, “God, I know you space out in class Maxine but I didn't think you were just genuinely dumb.”

Chloe felt her blood boil and counted to three before turning to Max, “Hey go get your stuff together, I’ll lock up.” 

Max shot a look at Victoria and then back to Chloe, “But…”

“Go,” Chloe said, and moved Max’s shoulders towards the back of area of the shop. She turned to face Victoria, plastering a huge smile on her face, “I am so sorry about that, let me get you a new one,” Chloe said, moving to the coffee machine.

The blonde stood with her arms folded, assessing the blue haired punk behind the counter, “Yeah well it shouldn’t be that difficult to get it right in the first place.”

Max lingered out of sight at the entrance to the staff room and listened to the exchange. 

“Hmmm,” Chloe said, using every ounce of willpower she had to maintain her facade and not just leap over the counter and deck the blonde bitch. 

“I feel so bad, I mean especially since you’re trying to do something about it,” Chloe continued.

“Do something about what?” 

“Your weight problem.” 

Victoria's hands shot down to her sides, her eyes wide open and her mouth agape as she half screeched, “My what?!”

Chloe raised her hands in defense, “Hey, no, it’s cool! I mean, you carry those extra pounds really well.”

“Are you fucking…?”

“But it’s good to know that you’re doing something about it and taking it so seriously.”

Chloe placed a lid on the drink and slid it across the counter, still gripping the cup.

Victoria tried and failed to come up with a response and was just desperate to get out of there and back to the safety of her friends. She reached out to take the cup but Chloe pulled it back a bit and leaned over the counter, the fake smile she had been keeping plastered on her face dropped immediately and Victoria felt her blood run cold as she looked into the enraged pools of blue before her. 

“If you ever speak to her like that, and I mean ever fucking again, well…” Chloe stood up and let go of the cup, “Let’s just say skinny lattes will definitely be the least of your problems.” 

“I could have you fired like that,” Victoria said, snapping her fingers to emphasize her point.

“You could…but then I’d have all this free time on my hands to make your life a living fucking nightmare,” Chloe said and returned the fake smile to her face.

Victoria opened her mouth to say something but was unnerved by the punks care-free attitude - she wasn’t used to going head to head with someone who didn’t give a shit who she was and had no fear of her. She quickly stormed out of the shop, slamming the door behind her. 

. . . . . 

Once Chloe had finished counting the takings and safely locking them away in the safe, she ventured into the back area to grab her belongings. 

“Hey, Max are you o…mph!”

Chloe’s sentence was cut-off as the brunette launched herself at Chloe, knocking her back slightly, her lips landing firmly on hers and her arms laced around the taller girls neck. Chloe’s eyes shot wide open and Max quickly pulled away when she realized she had nearly floored the bluenette.

“Sorry…I…” Max started but Chloe quickly gained her composure and leaned down to capture the brunettes mouth again. She walked her back slightly, pressing the shorter girl up against the lockers. Max moaned softly as she pulled Chloe’s bottom lip into her mouth, running her tongue across it. Her hands cupped the girls face, holding her in place, desperate for this contact. 

Chloe gripped the smaller girls hips as she pushed her tongue into Max’s mouth, feeling a familiar tightening sensation in her stomach as she felt Max’s tongue sweep across her own. Chloe groaned into the girls mouth and her wandering hands moved round from the girls hips and ran down her ass, applying some pressure. 

Max moaned at the sensation and pushed her body closer to Chloe’s, moving her hands from the girls cheeks to the back of her hair, lacing her fingers through the short layers at the back of her head and gripping tightly.

Chloe moved her mouth away from Max’s and began kissing along the girls jaw, occasionally nibbling at the defined edge and then running her tongue lightly across the girls neck before biting on the soft skin below her ear. She felt Max’s grip on her hair tighten and she ran her hands up the brunettes back. Chloe’s hands came into contact with the girls soft skin as they worked their way under her shirt. She pulled the girl tight against her body, moving her mouth to bite and suck at the skin at the bottom Max’s neck and the top of her shoulder as she lightly dragged her nails up the girls back. 

Max let out a louder moan than she had intended to which echoed around the room and she removed a hand from the taller girl and covered her mouth in embarrassment. Chloe felt the girl shift and kissed her way back along Max’s jaw towards her lips, removing the shy girls hand and taking it in her own. She placed a soft kiss on the girls lips before leaning her forehead against Max’s, regaining a steady breathing pattern.

“What was that for?” she asked, her words still a little shaky from their heated moment.

“Defending my honor I guess,” Max said, smiling up at the girl.

Chloe realized that Max had heard the whole exchange and looked away embarrassed, moving her head back slightly, “Sorry. I just get…I get really protective of you Max. No-one should ever speak to you like that and you shouldn’t let them.”

“I know. I don’t think she will be saying much to me after that,” Max said, reluctantly moving away from Chloe to grab her bag. 

Chloe picked up her jacket and swung it over her shoulder, she held open the door for Max as they exited the shop. 

“She’s lucky I didn’t throw her coffee at her.”

“Yeah…and that you didn’t have a tub of popcorn handy,” Max said with a smirk. 

‘Busted,’ Chloe thought as she laughed and threw her arm around the girl, walking her to her truck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I have done a lot of updates recently. I've got a busy week and weekend ahead but will most definitely get an update next week. Thank you so much for all your kind words, they make me want to do such a good job with this for you guys and I really hope you enjoy this chapter, I admit I did struggle with this one. Let me know your thoughts and any things you would like to see etc, that's always useful to read. For example the popcorn scene proved to be very popular so I had to address that at the end haha. I wish I had the animation skills to do draw that up :P Maybe I'll get working on a stick figure rendition? ;) 
> 
> As always if you want to follow me - https://alybalyb.tumblr.com/


	8. Titan

Max took a deep breath as she appraised herself in the mirror of the girls bathroom. She had been a bundle of nervous energy all day in anticipation for her date with Chloe. As much as she had tried to get the details out of her, Chloe had refused to give any information about where they were going. The only details Chloe would give her was that Max didn’t need to dress up and should be prepared to have a ‘hella good time’. 

Kate sat on Max’s bed waiting for the brunette to return. She had sat whilst the brunette agonized for a good hour over her outfit choice. She had thrown every item of clothing she owned on to the bed, eventually settling for a grey t-shirt with a burgundy cardigan thrown over it, jeans and some converse. 

“You look great Max.” Kate said as Max reemerged. Her statement was laced with so much genuineness that Max almost believed her.

“Thanks Kate,” Max replied, frowning at herself in the mirror, “I don’t know, I feel like I have no style, I mean compared to Chloe, I’m pretty boring…I don’t know what…”

Kate stood from the bed and turned the girl around, holding her shoulders, “Max, Chloe is taking you on a date, she likes you, and so she should. You’re a wonderful person Max.” 

Max avoided her friends gaze, embarrassed from the compliment, “Thanks Kate. You always know what to say to make me feel better.”

“Also Max, just because she’s taking you on a date doesn’t mean you…you know. Owe her anything,” Kate said with a serious look on her face.

“Kate!” Max said, giving her friend a playful push, “I know that. Don’t worry, Chloe’s not like that.”

“Just making sure you know,” Kate said with a smile, “Oh I almost forgot!” 

Kate rummaged around in her purse and pulled out a lipstick and handed it to Max who checked the label.

“Merlot? Kate, I didn’t peg you as a lipstick kind of gal?” Max said as she went to apply it in front of the mirror.

“Well, I bought it when I started here, I was never allowed to wear anything like that when I lived with my parents so I figured I could be a bit rebellious.”

Max giggled at the fact that Kate’s definition of rebellion was buying what the blonde deemed to be a risqué lipstick color. 

“What do you think?” Max said, puckering her lips and turning to face her friend.

“It looks great on you Max,” Kate replied with a smile, “No you keep it,” she said when her friend tried to return the lipstick, “I’ve never had the guts to wear it anyway.” 

Max pulled her friend into a hug, “Thank you Kate.” 

“Oh, you’re vibrating!” Kate said.

Max pulled her phone out of her pocket. 

Chloe - Be there in 10, hope you're ready for me gorgeous

Kate laughed as a huge smile spread across her friends face, “Chloe?”

“Yeah…I better go wait for her. Thanks for your help Kate.”

“I want to hear all about it when you get back,” Kate said as she was led out to the hallway by her friend.

. . . . . .

Max waited in front of the steps of Blackwell, her foot tapping nervously on the pavement as her stomach lurched at the sound of any approaching car. She saw Warren’s car approach in the distance and hoped, as he parked up, that he wouldn’t come over. The boy emphatically waved to her as he climbed out of the car and Max resigned herself to an awkward conversation.

“Hey Max. Wow you look great!” Warren exclaimed, slightly out of breath from jogging across the parking lot to see Max.

“Thanks Warren, good to see your wheels are back in action.”

“Oh yeah, it wasn’t cheap though. So hey, I wanted to talk to you actually.”

‘Uh-oh, here it comes,’ Max thought.

“So the cinema date didn’t go exactly as I had planned,” he continued.

‘Me neither,’ Max thought and tried to suppress a smile as she thought back to her first kiss with Chloe.

“I wondered if you wanted to maybe try again, like somewhere else, we could go bowling or go for dinner or…”

“Warren,” Max cut-off his ramble, “You’re a great friend but…I don’t want anything else other than that from you.”

“Oh,” Warren said as he stared down at the ground trying not to let the disappointment show, “Thats cool.”

“Sorry Warren. But hey, I know Stella is really into you, why don’t you ask her out sometime?”

Warren looked up, “Really? You think so?”

“Yeah, you should totally go for it,” Max said, happy to see a small smile back on the boys face.

“Thanks Max. You’re really awesome, I hope you know that.” 

Max looked away embarrassed and felt increasingly more awkward standing with the boy she had just rejected. 

Warren made to leave but stopped, “Hey Max, can I ask you something? And this might be crazy but…”

“Shoot,” Max said. 

“Is there…something going on with you and Chloe?”

Max stood, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to think of a response. She realized with every second she had stalled she had unknowingly given Warren his answer.

“I thought so,” the boy said and forced a smile. 

A loud car horn sounded, Max whipped her head around and saw Chloe’s truck parked on the other side of the road. 

“Looks like that’s your ride. I’ll see you later Max,” Warren said and attempted an awkward fist bump with the brunette before he ran up the steps towards the dorms.

Max crossed the road, taking in the sight of her blue haired punk who had exited the vehicle and was holding the passenger door open for her.

“Madame,” Chloe said with a small bow as Max giggled and hopped into the truck.

“Such a gentle-woman,” Max said as Chloe returned to the drivers seat.

“Sorry if I interrupted there,” Chloe said, with a slight edge to her voice as she tried to suppress her annoyance. 

‘I can’t believe he’s still sniffing around my girl. My girl…hmm I like the sound of that,’ Chloe thought.

“Are you jealous?” Max asked with a smirk.

“Pfft no,” Chloe said as she started the engine and pulled away from the kerb.

“That’s a shame,” Max said causing the blue haired girl to shoot her a quick confused glance, “I was just about say I better try and think of some ways to show you that you don’t have to be jealous of Warren.” 

“Did these ways involve your tongue in my mouth?”

“Gross Chloe,” Max scolded and moved her gaze to stare out of the passenger window, “But maybe.” 

Chloe waited a beat and sighed, “Okay I was totally jealous….I am hella jealous right now Max you might have to do something about that.” 

Max giggled and leaned over and planted a kiss on Chloe’s cheek, “You’re such a perv.”

Max wiped away the lipstick mark she had left behind and Chloe took the opportunity to seize her hand, interlocking their fingers as she placed it down to rest on her knee. Max smiled at the gesture and shuffled closer to the blue haired girl. 

"By the way Max...you look beautiful," Chloe stated.

Max smiled at Chloe who kept her eyes fixed on the road and gave her hand a quick squeeze in response.

. . . . . .

“Chloe can I open them now?” 

“Nearly, hold on I just need to park,” Chloe said as she brought the truck to a stop and walked out, opening the passenger door and leading the small girl out as she kept her eyes shut at Chloe’s request.

“Now?!” Max asked eagerly.

“Okay…ta-da!” Chloe said as she held her arms in the air, behind her was the entrance to the Oregon State Fair. 

Max stared back, slack jawed. 

“I mean, if its lame we can do something else Max. It was probably a shitty idea, I…”

“Chloe, this is so freaking awesome!” Max squealed in excitement, “Come on, lets go!” she said, pulling the blue haired girl by the hand towards the entrance.

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief and grinned as she followed the excited brunette.

Max was overjoyed she had decided to take her camera. The setting sun meant that the area around them was lit by the multicolored string lights hung around the fair. Max felt like a kid again in the buzzing atmosphere as Chloe pulled her in different directions looking at all the attractions. 

Chloe led them to a tin can alley stand, prizes were hung up around the booth and a very bored looking teenage boy stood, handing out three baseballs to patrons and stocking up the cans after their shots. 

“A prize for the lady?” Chloe asked, grinning at Max.

“You know these things are like set up so you can’t win,” Max stated.

“Shhh you skeptical hipster,” Chloe said, paying the boy behind the stand and taking her shots, inevitably losing.

“Again!” Chloe said, handing more money to the boy as she again tried and failed. 

“Chloe,” Max said with a laugh, “It’s fine, you don’t need to win me a prize.”

“One more try?” Chloe said and Max nodded. 

“Rigged!” Chloe shouted as she again failed and Max dragged her away from the booth as the boy behind it looked back in slight terror at the fury of the blue haired girl.

As they approached a Test Your Strength stand her demeanor changed, “Oh yes I have got to do this!” Chloe stated.

She grabbed the heavy mallet and held it in a Thor like pose whilst Max snapped a picture. She hammered it down, disappointed that she didn’t ring the bell at the top, “Pfft eighty out of a hundred, are you kidding me? I mean I’m not exactly at my best since I have this injury,” Chloe said, holding up the hand that was still red from the burn the previous night.

“Excuses excuses,” Max said rolling her eyes. 

“Oh really…your turn Maximus,” Chloe declared as she handed the mallet to Max.

“Oh I don’t know,” Max started but realized Chloe wasn’t going to budge on this, “Okay I’ll give it a shot.”

Max slammed the mallet down as hard as she could, Chloe gasped as she pushed the ninety mark but still didn’t quite hit the hundred. 

“Beginners luck,” Chloe said as she frowned at the girl, “There’s no way you beat me fair and square! Not with these guns,” she said flexing her arms causing Max to laugh. 

Chloe spotted some arcade machines in the distance, “Come on, let me kick your virtual ass in Street Fighter.”

“Oh you are on!” 

. . . . . .

“Okay best of four!” Chloe said, wiping her brow clean from sweat that had formed from her vigorous button bashing.

“I’ve already beat you three times anyway!” 

“Yeah but this is the final deciding round,” Chloe said, putting more money in the machine.

“That’s so unfair,” Max started then quickly sprang back into action as the game began again.

Chloe started losing fairly quickly again and decided it was time to play dirty and began poking the smaller girl in the ribs, “Argh Chloe, you’re such a…ARGH…get off! Cheater!” Max said as Chloe effectively distracted Max enough to win the game.

“Ha ha victory is mine!”

“So not fair!” Max said with a pout. 

“You’re so cute when you’re annoyed,” Chloe said, placing her hands on the smaller girls hips.

Max blushed and glanced around, noticing that Chloe’s actions had drawn some inquisitive looks from other revelers. She spotted an air hockey table and pulled Chloe over to it, “Come on, let me beat you at a real game.”

Chloe quirked her eyebrow, “You call this a real game?”

“Scared?”

“Hell no,” Chloe said as she threw her leather jacket on the ground, preparing herself. 

Both girls were laughing as they played, Chloe again trying her best to beat Max but failing miserably. 

“Okay I give up!” Chloe said, picking up her discarded jacket and throwing it back on. 

“Don’t play with the master if you don’t expect to be taught a lesson,” Max said.

“You’re such a nerd. I did appreciate the view from the other end of that table though…thanks for that,” Chloe said with a wink.

Max flushed with embarrassment as she realized she had unknowingly provided Chloe a great vantage point to look right down her top.

“Blushing again Caulfield? You wanna grab some ice cream, cool you off a bit?” Chloe asked, leading the girl to the food stands.

“You’re an ass,” Max said giggling, knocking the girl off her balance slightly as she bumped her shoulder into her.

. . . . . .

“So have you been here before?” Max asked as they sat on a bench eating their ice creams.

“I used to come all the time with my Dad when I was younger,” Chloe stated and Max noticed the sad smile that formed on the girls lips.

“Chloe, your Dad…I don’t want to pry but…”

“It’s cool Max,” Chloe said, shooting a quick smile to the girl to reassure her, “Uh he died like five years ago, some drunk asshole crashed into his car.”

Max felt her stomach drop, “Oh god Chloe, that…that’s so awful.”

“Yeah it was pretty fucking shitty,” Chloe said. She hated revealing this intimate moment of her life to anyone. The pity she would receive would make her feel sick. 

“That must be so hard. I’m so sorry that happened,” Max said, and took the girls hand in her own, interlocking their fingers. 

Chloe turned her head to look at Max and the genuine smile on the brunettes face melted her heart. Something about the way that Max had said those words didn’t feel like pity, it felt genuine. 

Chloe was distracted by her thoughts and watched in horror as her ice cream fell off her cone and landed on her foot. 

“Shit, no way!” she whined as she shook it off her boot.

“Aww,” Max said, “What a shame,” she continued as she started licking her ice cream, “It’s really good you know,” she said with a smirk.

Chloe glared at Max and started edging her way forward, the brunette raising an arm to hold her back.

“Chloe!” she said as she tried to hold the punk back, “No...don't...Chloeeee!” she squealed as the girl quickly bit at the ice cream taking a large chunk off the top of it.

“Tha-sh wha'd you get!” Chloe attempted to say through her chewing as she tried to swallow the large mouthful of ice cream, “Fuck! Brain freeze!” she exclaimed, holding the palm of her hand to her forehead and wincing in pain.

“And that’s what you get!” Max said laughing. 

The girl glared back at her and Max laughed harder as she saw that some of the ice cream was smeared across Chloe’s face, “Uh you have a little…” Max said, pointing at her own cheek.

“You could get it for me?” Chloe said with a wink.

Max blushed and handed the girl a tissue out of her bag. 

Chloe wiped her face, “Not into the PDA’s huh?” 

“Sorry,” Max said, and hung her head down low avoiding the blue eyes in front of her. 

“No…Max, don’t feel bad,” Chloe said, lifting the girls head up to meet her gaze, “I know this is new for you, the whole dating a girl thing.”

“Hmm more the whole dating anyone thing. I don’t care that you’re a girl. I mean, obviously I care that you’re a girl and I like girls…well not all girls…I mean I like you…”

“Max,” Chloe said with a small smile on her face, “I get it. It’s cool, I can keep it on the down low until you feel more comfortable.” 

“Thanks,” Max said, as she looked at their still interlocked fingers. 

“Not gonna say it doesn’t suck sometimes. I pretty much want to kiss you all the time,” Chloe admitted.

“Me too,” Max agreed and both girls stared into each others eyes as they saw their mutual desire reflected in the blue pools in front of them. 

“You’re melting,” Chloe said. 

“Huh?"

Chloe glanced down at the forgotten ice cream spilling down onto Max’s hand.

"Oh shoot!” Max shook her hand and threw the rest of the ice cream in the trash. 

“Hey, can we go on that?” Max said, pointing to the brightly lit Ferris wheel, excited at the prospect of some of the shots she could get from that height.

“Uh…yeah sure,” Chloe said as she followed the excited brunette to the line.

. . . . . .

Once they were in the passenger car slowly moving higher up, it had become increasingly more difficult for Chloe not to let her fear show. Her palms were sweaty as she gripped the metal bar tightly and tried not to look at the ground. The last thing she needed was her punk rock exterior being further ruined in front of this cute hipster. She knew it was an irrational fear especially since she had thrown herself on her board down some pretty steep halfpipes but she always felt more in control in those situations than she did sitting in this rickety seat as she was moved higher and higher up against her will. 

Max was oblivious to Chloe’s inner turmoil as she kept snapping shots and pointing out various sights to the blue haired girl. After several “Hmm” responses from the punk she turned around and looked at the girl and saw that her knuckles were white from gripping the bar in front of her.

“Chloe..are you scared of the Ferris wheel?”

Chloe forced a laugh, “Are you kidding Max? Scared of a Ferris wheel? No. What kind of…I mean what kind of person…yeah okay…yes,” Chloe eventually admitted when the look on Max’s face told her she wasn’t buying her bravado.

Max said nothing, simply smiling at the girl before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, “You’re so cute.”

Chloe lifted one hand to flip Max off and quickly slammed it back down on the bar with a look of fear as the car swayed slightly. 

Max giggled, “C’mere,” she said as she pulled the bluenettes arm around her after prying her fingers off the bar in front of her. She held her camera up and said, “Smile,” as she took a selfie of the pair.

“You’re so cute,” Chloe said.

Max carefully took the photo out and placed it with the rest she had gathered that day. She put her camera safely back in her bag and felt her stomach lurch as she turned around and locked eyes with Chloe who had been staring at her the entire time. Max leaned in and brushed her lips lightly over Chloe’s. Chloe moved her hand from the girls shoulder to the back of her head, pressing her in further. Max moaned slightly and parted her lips, deepening the kiss as she placed her hand on Chloe’s cheek, gently caressing the soft skin with her thumb. 

Chloe ran her fingers through the back of Max’s hair, lightly scraping her nails across the girls scalp sending shivers down Max’s spine and causing the brunette to push her body closer to Chloe's. Max lightly pressed her tongue into Chloe’s mouth who responded by releasing her other hand from her death grip on the bar and wrapping it around the girls waist. 

The wheel began to move again causing the cart to jerk slightly. Max giggled as she felt Chloe’s body stiffen and moved away seeing that the girls eyes had sprung open wide in fear. Max pulled the girls arm around her shoulder again and nuzzled into Chloe chest. Chloe returned one hand to the bar in front of her and kissed the top of Max’s head.

“I’m glad you’re here to protect me,” Max said with giggle.

“Damn right,” Chloe said, elated that the cart was making it’s way back towards the ground.

. . . . . .

“So did you have fun?” Chloe asked as she walked Max out of the fair.

“So much…Chloe this was amazing,” Max said.

Chloe felt her heart melt at the look of pure joy the brunette gave her. 

They approached the gate and Chloe glanced at the tin can alley that had bested her earlier. The boy working on it was distracted by a pretty blonde girl and Chloe brought Max to a stop near the exit.

“Hey Max, uh…wait here for a second okay?”

Max followed Chloe’s gaze, “Chloe, what are you doing?”

“Nothing. Just…wait,” Chloe said, motioning for the girl to remain there as she walked over to the booth. 

She stood at the opposite side from the boy working the stall, her hands in her pockets as she darted her eyes around the area and tried to look innocent. In a flash she quickly yanked down one of the prizes, causing several others to fall and the boy behind the booth snapped his head in her direction.

“Hey!” he yelled as the blue haired girl darted away with a teddy bear under her arm.

“Run Max!” Chloe yelled as she approached the smaller girl and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the truck.

They got to the truck, breathless and giggling as Chloe started the engine and drove off. 

“No-one was chasing us you know?” Max said through her laughter.

“Can we pretend they were? It’s more fun that way,” Chloe said giggling, handing the bear the Max.

“Aww he’s so cute. I’ll call him…Chlo-Bear.”

Chloe shot a glare at Max, “You will not be calling him that! You can call him…Titan.”

Max laughed and squeezed the bear to her chest. 

Chloe’s phone started vibrating on the dashboard and she went to answer it before deciding that Max probably wouldn’t approve of that. 

Max glanced at the screen, “Rachel’s calling.”

“Ugh she’ll just be wanting all the gossip from our date.”

Max grinned as she answered the phone, “Hi Rachel.” 

Chloe feigned a look of annoyance at the girl but was secretly amused at Max’s actions.

“Oh yeah it went really well. Yeah definitely a second date,” Max said and looked at Chloe, hoping she wasn’t being too presumptuous. 

Chloe grinned as she listened but kept her eyes on the road. 

“The lighthouse? Uh well I have classes in the morning. Oh okay. Yeah. Okay yeah see you soon,” Max said as she hung up.

Chloe looked at Max quizzically, “See you soon?”

“She’s hanging by the lighthouse and wanted us to join…she’s really hard to say no to.” 

“You’re telling me,” Chloe agreed.

“You don’t mind me crashing do you?” 

“Oh I dunno Max, I mean this means I’ve got to spend more time with your beautiful self? I guess I’ve got to just suck it up,” she said as she took Max’s hands and brought it to her lips to plant a kiss on the blushing girls knuckles.

. . . . . . 

“Max! Chloe!” Rachel said as she ran over to the girls, pulling them both into a hug and dragging them over to the makeshift campfire next to the lighthouse.

“Has she been drinking?” Max whispered to Chloe.

“Most definitely,” Chloe said as she walked over to greet Trevor and Justin. Justin offered his joint to Chloe who took a quick drag as she watched Max be pulled onto a log to sit next to Rachel. There were a few other people dotted around the area, some of whom Max didn’t recognize and were mostly drinking, smoking or chatting. 

Max felt really out of her comfort zone but when she looked over to Chloe she saw that the girl was watching her. Max smiled at her and Chloe gave her a wink in response. Max felt safe whenever she knew Chloe was nearby, knowing the girl by her own admittance was very protective of her. 

“So tell me everything?” Rachel asked, as she picked up her beer from the ground, offering it to Max.

“Uh no thanks. It was really nice,” Max said with a bashful smile. 

“Nice?” Rachel asked dubiously. 

“Really nice, I had such a great time. Chloe's lovely,” she elaborated.

“Yeah with you she is,” Rachel said as she swigged her drink, “You’ve brought out a side to her I’ve never seen before Max.” 

“Really?”

“She’s so different since you came into her life, happier. It’s nice to see it. I mean usually with girls she just humps em and dumps em you know…” Rachel’s eyes widened, “Oh shit. Forget I said that. Oh man this is why I shouldn’t drink,” Rachel said, dropping the beer bottle and covering her face in her hands.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” Max said but felt a little rattled by Rachel’s statement. 

“That’s not," Rachel started, seeing the look of anguish in the brunettes face, "She likes you Max.”

Max looked back at Chloe who was engaged in conversation with Justin. She felt all her insecurities brim to the surface as she looked at how effortlessly cool and charming the girl was, not to mention drop dead gorgeous.

‘I’m just a shy, insecure dork. Why is she wasting her time with me?’ Max thought sullenly.

“Max, hey,” Rachel said, giving the brunettes arm a quick squeeze, “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said that. Listen to me okay?”

Max nodded in response, resting her gaze back on Rachel’s serious expression.

“I have never seen Chloe look at someone the way she looks at you. Okay?”

Max sighed as she willed herself to push down all her feelings of self-doubt, “Okay,” Max stated and smiled back at the girl. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder and looked up to see Chloe standing behind her.

“Wanna go for a walk?” Chloe asked.

. . . . . . 

Both girls walked for several minutes in silence as they wandered down to the moonlit woods, far enough away from prying eyes or ears. Chloe stopped in a clearing and turned to face Max, pulling the girl towards her by the hips. 

“I had a really great time tonight Max.” 

“Me too,” Max agreed but Chloe noticed that the girl was avoiding her gaze.

“Hey, what’s up?” Chloe asked and Max’s heart ached as she saw the concern etched across the bluenettes beautiful face.

“I…something Rachel said…”

“I’m gonna kill her,” Chloe said as she glared in the direction of the group of teenagers by the camp fire.

“No...she never said anything wrong, she said you liked me but she said something about…dumping and humping…I mean the other way around.”

Chloe nodded, “Yup…she’s losing a limb tonight.” 

Max looked at Chloe with genuine worry. 

“I’m kidding,” Chloe said, as she pulled the girl in closer, “Mostly.”

Chloe sensed that Max was still troubled. She pulled the girl into a hug, letting her head rest on the brunettes shoulder. Max wrapped her hands around the girls back as she rested her face against the taller girls shoulder and faced out towards the moonlit woods. 

Chloe took a deep breath, hoping it would be easier to say this if she didn’t have to look in Max's eyes. 

“Max…I’ve not felt like this before...and...I can't stop thinking about you, like literally all the time. I don’t want anyone else okay?” 

Max felt tears brim in her eyes and quickly blinked them away. No-one had ever said anything like that to her before, let alone anyone as wonderful as the girl who held her tightly in her arms. 

“Me too,” she said.

Chloe pulled away from the hug but took the smaller girls hands in her own as they rested their foreheads against each other, “Me too as in you don’t want to date, oh I don’t know…”

“I don’t want to date Warren,” Max said, “He kinda found out today I’m dating you.” 

“So we’re dating?” 

“Uh…well…I mean if you want to…I would like to.”

“Oh I hella want to date you Max Caulfield.” 

Max grinned, standing on her tiptoes and giving Chloe a chaste kiss. 

“Come on, let’s get back before we set tongues wagging,” Max said and made to leave but was quickly pulled back into Chloe’s embrace.

“Tongues wagging you say?” she said with a wicked grin. 

“Perv,” Max said, pushing the girls shoulder and pulling her over to the group, “Come on.”

“Spoil sport,” Chloe grumbled as she was led back to the rest of her friends.

. . . . . . 

Max was sitting in Chloe’s truck as they drove back towards campus looking back at the polaroids she had taken that day as they were intermittently lit by the passing street lights. 

Chloe glanced over at the girl, seeing her brow furrowed in concentration.

“Sup?”

Max glanced back, “Oh. Nothing,” she said, looking back down at the photos in her hands.

Chloe squeezed the brunettes knee and rested her hand there, waiting for the girl to speak up.

“Can I ask you something?” Chloe nodded and Max continued, “Well…I’ve got this assignment due next week. Portraits. But I haven’t asked anyone yet if they will let me take their photo. I mean I haven’t asked who I want to ask yet if they will let me take their photo…which is you. So this is what I’m doing now. Is asking you, if you’ll let me?”

Chloe smiled and looked at the brunette who continued her ramble, “I mean it’s fine if you don’t want to it’s a little weird right? Forget I asked.”

“Sure,” Chloe said with a shrug.

“Sure as in yes?”

Chloe laughed, “Yes Max. Like I’m going to turn down a photo opportunity with your talented ass? It’s a nice ass by the way,” she said with a wink, “So when do you wanna do it?” 

“Uh…” Max started.

“The photo shoot Max,” Chloe said laughing.

“Oh,” Max replied flustered, “Um what about early on Saturday? Are you free?”

“Free as a bird. But can you maybe do something for me in return?”

“Okay?”

“Well Rach is having a party that night. I know it’s probably not your thing but, I’d really like it if you would come,” Chloe asked hopefully.

Max put her hand over Chloe’s which had gripped tighter on her knee, “I’d love to.” 

All too soon Chloe had stopped outside Blackwell and Max felt a wave of sadness as the evening had come to an end. 

“So I’ll see you at work tomorrow?” Chloe asked.

“Definitely. Thanks again for tonight Chloe, it was awesome,” she said as she grabbed her things and made her way out of the truck.

Chloe felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, surprised to see a message from the girl who was disappearing from view.

Max - I left something in your truck

Chloe - Is it that goodbye kiss that you failed to give me?

Max - Check the seat dork

Chloe looked over to the passenger seat and saw a polaroid face down. She pulled it up, her whole heart filled with happiness as she saw the selfie Max had taken earlier that day on the Ferris wheel. She saw writing scrawled under it and turned on the interior light of her truck to read the words.

“I’ve never felt this way before either.” 

Chloe felt her stomach summersault at the writing and she felt her cheeks ache at the grin on her face. She let her thumb graze across Max’s face on the picture in front of her. She jumped as she heard the passenger door open, seeing Max quickly clamber in and plant a firm kiss on her lips. Chloe was dumb-struck as she watched the girl giggle and hop back out of the truck and head back towards the dorms. 

When she returned home, Chloe grabbed some blu-tack from one of her many posters plastered around her walls and used it to pin the photo on the cabinet next to her bed. She lay down, facing the photo and staring at the smiling brunette. She rolled on to her back and let out a loud sigh. 

‘Shit. I’m falling in love with this girl.’

Despite all the fears that she had surrounding the implications of that statement…she fell asleep with a smile still gracing her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys...your comments give me life, seriously. Thank you so much for all the comments and the kudos. I really enjoyed writing this fluffy chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. Turns out writing fluffy fanfic is a fantastic way to spend a hungover Saturday :P


	9. Shhh it's a Library

The sound of the front door slamming woke Chloe up with a start. 

‘That will be Step-Prick off to work then,’ she thought, pulling her covers over her head in annoyance. 

She sighed heavily, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to lull herself back to sleep, back to her pleasant dream she had just been pulled from. She smiled when she thought about the cute freckled hipster who had infiltrated her dreams so much lately. Most of these admittedly had been R rated - Chloe had no complaints that Max wasn’t exactly as fast as some of the girls she had been with before, but it did leave her a little hungry for more. 

‘It’s fine, I can wait as long as Max wants. I mean, this is different, this is feelings and shit…really scary fucking terrifying overwhelming feelings.’ 

Chloe frowned beneath the covers whilst her mind wandered to all the possible scenarios in which Max could rip her heart out and squish it under her converse. Chloe wasn’t scared of commitment, she was scared of other peoples commitment to her. She pulled the covers off her head, angry with herself for letting her thoughts wander down an inevitable spiral of doubt. One of her mottos had always been “Everybody lies…no exceptions.” What about Max? Did Chloe really believe she was the exception? 

‘What about my plans to get out of this shitty town? What about when Max finishes at Blackhell? 

She rolled onto her side, ready to reach under her bed and pull out her stash for her wake and bake routine which would stop her brain from going into overdrive, when the polaroid from last night caught her eye. 

One look at Max’s beautiful smile and suddenly the frown on her face was gone along with her doubt, fear and worry. A smile slowly started spreading across the punk’s face as she lay gazing at the picture for a few moments more, re-reading the words Max had scrawled under it over and over before finally shaking herself from her love-struck stupor to grab her tin and her papers. 

She sat on her bed, leaning against the wall, when her phone started to buzz next to her. She saw Rachel’s name on the screen and put her phone on speaker whilst she placed some buds into her grinder. 

“Sup Rach?”

“Hey Chloe, I’m just checking in…seeing how you are? How Max is?” 

“I’m not mad at you Rach I told you last night,” Chloe said, tapping the crushed weed onto the paper.

“I know I just still feel really shitty about what I said. I hope I didn’t fuck anything up with my big mouth?”

Chloe licked her paper to seal the joint shut and glanced over at the polaroid again, “Most definitely did not fuck anything up.”

“Wait, what? Did something happen? Oh my god did you guys…”

“No!” Chloe mumbled while she put the joint between her lips and lit it, taking a long draw, “Get your mind outta the fucking gutter.”

Rachel laughed, “So can I buy you lunch today to say sorry for being a shitty friend?”

“Well I’m not gonna turn down a free meal. Pick you up at one?”

“Deal.”

“And Rach…you’re not a shitty friend okay. You’re my best friend.” 

Rachel was silent for a moment before letting out a high-pitched, “Aww, Chloe! Max has turned you into a squishy, little, fluffy…”

“Go fuck yourself!” Chloe shouted.

Rachel howled with laugher on the other end of the phone before Chloe hung up and cut her off.

“Asshole,” she said but couldn’t help the amused smirk that quickly replaced her scowl. She scrolled to her messages when she saw a notification from Max.

Max - Hope you made it home okay last night and aren’t still sitting outside campus in your truck with that look on your face I left you with (☉_☉)

Chloe - I usually let your emojis slide but that’s taking it too far Caulfield. Anyway, I thought I was the one with the ninja skills here? Sneaky Max!

Max - He he, sorry but the look on your face was…

Chloe - Don’t do it Max

Max - _Price_ less

Chloe - Oh that’s it, I am so getting my revenge 

Max - What? You’re gonna get me back for attacking you with a kiss?

Chloe - Yup

Chloe - When you least expect it

Max - Oh no what a nightmare, what have I let myself in for? ;)

Chloe chuckled to herself as she got up to get showered and devise a plan of action.

. . . . . . 

“Chloe? You’re early? You’re never early?”

Chloe tried not to laugh at a frazzled looking Rachel who was looking at her in utter confusion. She had a few pens pushed into her hair which had been shoved up haphazardly into a bun. 

Chloe plucked one out and handed it to her, “Good look on you Rach.”

Rachel snatched it and then shook her head, “Sorry I’ve got this fucking test this afternoon and I was trying to cram for it.” 

“You wanna skip lunch?” 

“God no, I might pass out if I don’t eat, but can you give me like 15 mins?” 

Chloe glanced over her shoulder, looking at the dorm door which she now knew from studying the map in the hallway belonged to Max, “Actually, I’ll come back for you in thirty,” Chloe said with a wink.

Rachel rolled her eyes, “Just behave,” she scolded before shutting her door.

Chloe took another glance around the hallway, scoping for any security in the vicinity, before moving to Max’s door and hoping the brunette was inside. 

She knocked one, twice…no response.

“Hey Max open up, it’s the FBI….you know Female Body Inspecto…”

“Hello?”

Chloe spun round, clutching her chest from the fright the doe-eyed blonde before her had just given her, “Shit!”

“Sorry, it’s Chloe right?”

“Uh yeah…you were in the shop that one time right?” Chloe asked, desperately trying to scramble the name from her weed clouded memory, “Kate?” 

The blonde nodded, “Were you looking for Max? She said she was going to the library.”

“Library…awesome. Thanks,” Chloe said before moving to leave.

“Uh Chloe…” Kate started with a worried look on her face, “I don’t think you’ll be allowed in there.” 

Chloe shrugged, “I’ve got my ways,” before moving to leave.

Kate side-stepped effectively blocking her path, Chloe could see the girl was visibly shaking from what was probably quite a confrontational move for her.

“Just…” Kate began and then swallowed, summoning her strength, “Don’t let Max get in trouble. I don’t want to see my friend in any trouble…or upset…ever.”

Chloe was utterly touched by the concern the shy blonde had for Max, “I promise, I would never get Max into any trouble…or upset…ever. Scouts honor,” Chloe said as she posed with what was actually the Vulcan Salute, but she hoped Kate wouldn’t notice. 

Kate smiled at the blue-haired girl and nodded, moving slightly to let her pass, “It was nice to meet you again,” she said before Chloe stepped out of the door.

‘Well that was hella awkward,’ Chloe thought as she stepped out onto campus and made her way round the back of the dorms towards the library. 

Chloe breathed a sigh of relief as she made it to the Library doors, having only had to evade David once by hiding behind a bush, other than that security was pretty slack. She waited until a group of students entered and followed behind, trying to blend in as best she could which was a difficult feat when you have bright blue hair. When she made her way inside she moved behind one of the stacks. 

‘Now if I was a cute little hipster in the library…where would I be?’ she thought, reading the information signs above stacks and finally landing on her target, ‘Ah-hah, bingo!’ 

. . . . . . 

Max was crouched near the ground, searching through the photography books.

“You’re in my way.” 

Max didn’t even need to look up to know it was Victoria who was standing beside her, glaring down at her as she tried to get a book from the shelf in front of Max’s face. 

“Then move,” Max said with a shrug, as she continued to look through the stacks. Although she had pulled off a look of pure indifference, her heart was pounding in her chest.

‘Chloe was right, I shouldn’t let people talk to me like that.’

She could almost hear Victoria’s jaw drop to the floor before she saw the blonde angrily huff, leaning over her and pulling her desired book out of the shelf and stomping off. All the while Max continued to ignore her and waited until she was out of sight before releasing a deep breath and then letting a smile of victory cross her face.

‘Way to go Max,’ Chloe thought as she listened to the exchange from the other side of the stack. She could see a little glimpse of Max through the gaps in the the books, looking very pleased with herself.

Max stood and started raking her fingers across the books on the shelf that was at her eye-level. One book she had passed suddenly fell out, making her jump a little. Chloe stifled a laugh as she ducked down after pushing the book out from the other side. She watched as Max picked up the book and put it back in its place and continued her search. 

Chloe waited until the brunette was further along and again pushed the same book out. 

Max sighed, realizing someone was playing her, “Okay Casper cut it out,” she said before moving to the other side of the stack, expecting to see Victoria or her cronies. 

No-one was there. Max shrugged and turned around to head back to her search. 

She was suddenly thrust against the stack. Her scream of surprise was muffled only by the familiar lips that crashed into hers. Max’s eyes were wide open but slowly drifted shut as she caught up with Chloe’s movements and moaned into the punk’s mouth. She felt Chloe’s strong hands envelop her wrists and push her arms up above her head, she felt Chloe’s thigh press firmly against Max’s groin. Her own legs were jelly, her heart thumping wildly in her chest, her brain trying to scream at her that they were in a library for dog’s sake. Her focus was soon drawn only to the movement of Chloe’s tongue in her mouth and the feel of the girl pressing herself into her while her fingers wrapped around her wrists tightly. 

As soon as Max's brain had finally started to catch up, it was over. The punk stepped away from the brunette, breathing heavily as her signature smirk appeared.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Chloe said, her voice husky and laced with lust, before planting a swift kiss on the Max’s cheek and disappearing from view.

Max stood there for some time, blinking, trying to form words and trying to remember what it was like to breathe normally. 

. . . . . . 

Chloe sat across from Rachel at The Two Whales and dug into her food, quickly reading the text message that had just appeared.

Max - Okay that was so much more of a ninja move than mine was

Chloe - I’m a pro, what can I say?

Max - I still can’t believe you did that

Chloe - You’re not mad are you? 

Chloe gulped down her food, it formed a painful lump in her throat and her stomach gurgled with worry. 

‘Fuck was it too much? Damn it Chloe you’ve pissed her off already.’

Max - Oh it made me feel a lot of things, but mad definitely wasn’t one of them ;) 

Chloe grinned and started happily munching away at her food again. She looked up to see Rachel staring at her. 

“What?” 

“Nothing, it’s just nice, seeing you so happy,” Rachel said and looked back down at her food.

“I’ll say,” a southern drawl from behind her notified Chloe of her mother’s appearance and she rolled her eyes.

“Would you guys lay off please?” Chloe asked and lay her fork down on her plate.

“That depends - when am I getting to meet the girl responsible for all of this?” Joyce asked.

“Does next Sept-never work for you?”

Rachel laughed, “I think Max and Joyce would get on great Chlo.”

Chloe kicked her friend under the table.

“Ooh so her name’s Max?” Joyce asked, laughing at her daughters flustered face, “So you know her Rachel?” she asked.

Chloe glared at her friend and shook her head. 

“Sorry Joyce, I can’t tell you anything about Max Caulfield…the photography student who is really cute…ow Chloe you got my eye!” Rachel exclaimed as a napkin was launched at her head from across the table. 

“Who’s got brown hair, blue eyes, freckles…argh Chloe no!” Rachel screamed as Chloe jumped onto her side of the booth, trying to clamp her hands over the girls mouth, “She’s lovely and really smart oh oh and…mmmmph…” Rachel prized the bluenettes hand from her face and yelled, “…she works with us.”

Joyce laughed as the two girls play fought, “Okay okay ladies enough, Chloe, let the poor girl go,” she said as she gathered up their plates and made her way back to the kitchen.

“You are so dead,” Chloe said as she slid back into her side of the booth and scowled at her. 

“Chloe, what’s the big deal? She’s gonna meet her eventually.”

“It’s not your place to tell her all the details though Rach,” Chloe said, idly playing with her car keys and avoiding her friends gaze.

“Shit…I’m sorry Chloe. Fuck, I didn’t think.”

“S’okay,” Chloe said, still avoiding Rachel’s eyes, “I mean…I guess you could buy me lunch tomorrow to make up for it,” she said before the smirk she had been trying to suppress burst onto her face and she started laughing at her friend who was now pale with worry.

“You asshole!” Rachel said, balling up her own napkin and throwing it at her friend.

Chloe picked up her keys, “Come on let’s get you back to Shit-Well.” 

. . . . . . 

“Chloe, don’t give me shit about this please, okay? It’s done,” the exasperated James attempted to move past the punk who had cornered him in the back office of the coffee shop.

“But I always work the Friday night shift, why have you bumped me off of it for Evan?”

“Evan’s got an exam on Friday and he can’t come in until the late shift and there’s no-one to cover the morning shift. What do you want me to do?”

“Well…what if I have plans Friday morning?”

“Then I’d say come in Saturday instead,” James said with a smirk.

Chloe sighed, “Fiiiiine. I’ll do the Friday fucking morning shift.” 

“Nice to see your happy demeanor is present as always. Max will be in soon, I’m outta here,” he said before making his way out of the shop. 

Chloe flipped him off when he was out of view. She jumped when she felt two fingers press into her sides and turned to see a grinning Max.

“Fuck Max, I didn’t even see you come in.” 

“So you admit, I’ve got better ninja moves than you?” Max said smirking, stepping closer to the blue haired girl. 

Chloe bit her lip and moved closer, whispering in the girls ear, “Oh I think we both know that’s not true.”

“Ahem!” a loud cough from a customer at the counter broke both girls apart and they went back to work. 

. . . . . . 

“So you’re not gonna believe what fucking James did,” Chloe shouted over to Max as she made some drinks for the waiting customers. 

Max laughed at Chloe’s carefree attitude at cursing in front of the customers and politely handed the change to the one she was serving before asking, “What?” 

“He took me off of night shift on Friday and put me on the morning shift.”

“What?” Max asked, a wave of disappointment flooding her. She had never had a shift without Chloe and she imagined one without her would suck hard.

“I know, fucking asshole right? Here,” she said and handed the drinks to the waiting customers, oblivious to the look of shock on their faces at her severely lacking customer service skills.

“So I won’t see you until Saturday?”

“You gonna miss me?” Chloe asked, leaning on the counter with a smug grin.

“Not more than you’re gonna miss me,” Max retorted.

Chloe glanced around the now empty shop, “C’mere,” she said motioning her head for Max to approach her.

“Nope,” Max said, folding her arms over her chest, “We are in a place of business Miss.Price.”

Chloe ran her finger down the side of a stack of cups next to her before pushing them until they scattered over the floor.

“Oops,” she said nonchalantly, not making any movement to pick them up.

“Chloe!” Max exclaimed, looking at the mess, “Pick them up,” she said pointing at the cups.

“Nope.” 

Max rolled her eyes and bent down to pick up the cups. Chloe swiftly moved to crouch in front of her, grasping either side of her face in her hands and pulling her into a kiss. Max wobbled and fell forward onto her knees, wrapping her arms around Chloe’s neck. Chloe’s hands moved to the back of Max’s head and she tangled her fingers into her brown hair, her mouth hungrily devoured Max’s as they both gasped for air between kisses. 

A small squeak emitted from Max’s mouth as she felt Chloe lightly bite her bottom lip and then run her tongue across it. The action caused Max’s whole body to feel like it was on fire and she felt it aching for more contact from the blue-haired girl. She whimpered as Chloe moved her hands to the side of her face again and pulled her away, staring into her eyes intently. 

“Gonna miss me?” Chloe asked, but there was no trace of the trademark smirk on her face.

Max nodded and Chloe pulled her back into a kiss.

The shop entrance swung open and both girls broke apart swiftly. 

Max stood up, her face flushed as she tried to twist her apron back round to it’s normal position. 

An elderly couple approached the counter and Max felt her face flush with embarrassment. 

“What can I get you for? I mean…what can I get for you?”

She heard Chloe laughing as she returned to a standing position next to her with the forgotten coffee cups stacked in her arms.

. . . . . . 

“Max I can’t argue with the traditionalism of your method of photography but you have to see that it’s a dying art for a reason? The adaptability, efficiency and quickness of digital photography is just a few of the reasons why you should really think about making the switch. I have a whole book on this debate I could lend you. I really think it will open your mind,” Evan drawled.

“Hmm,” Max said, pulling her phone out discreetly under the counter.

Chloe - How are ya coping on your first shift without me beautiful?

Max - I’m not. Saaaaave meee :( 

Chloe - Wish I could, got roped into helping Rach decorate her parents house for this party 

Max - Oh wow she’s really going all out huh?

Chloe - Yeah I did tell her it’s just more shit to clean up before they get back

Chloe sent Max a selfie of her and Rachel in which Chloe was winking and had her arm around Rachel’s shoulder who was sticking her tongue out and holding up her fingers behind Chloe’s head. Max could see all the decorations lining the walls and ceiling behind them but she could only focus on the blue-haired girl in the picture.

Max felt like her heart was expanding in her chest the longer she looked at Chloe. 

‘I can’t believe that beautiful girl is mine,’ she thought as she quickly set it to her phone wallpaper. 

“Uh Max, I could use some help here!” Evan said and Max glanced up to see a few customers had entered. 

. . . . . . 

After what felt like a fifty hour shift, Max finally escaped the coffee shop. Evan offered her a ride back to the dorms but she declined politely, lying that she had something to do before hand but in truth she would rather sit on the bus than be in his company any longer. 

She sat at the bus stop, pulling her headphones out of her bag as she glanced up and squinted at the headlights that approached. 

"Hey little lady, you need a ride?” Chloe shouted out of her window, putting on her best southern accent. 

Max grinned and ran over to the truck, practically ripping the passenger door off it’s hinges and diving in. Chloe didn’t get the chance to speak before Max pounced on her, planting a swift kiss on her lips.

“What are you doing here?!”

“Well I was worried I wouldn’t catch you in time but I wanted to surprise you. Can’t let my girl go home alone,” Chloe said smiling, taking the brunette’s hand as Max settled in the seat beside her. 

Max kept her eyes on Chloe's profile as she started the truck. She couldn’t wipe the huge smile from her face, her whole being filled with joy whenever Chloe was next to her. 

‘I think I kinda love you,’ she thought as she let out a loud sigh.

“Huh?” Chloe asked.

‘Fuck did I say that out loud?’ Max thought as her face drained of all color.

“Nothing, I just sighed,” Max said.

“Oh, thought you said something,” Chloe said with a shrug and Max realized that she probably hadn’t accidentally slipped out a declaration of love. 

“So how was decorating with Rachel?”

“It was okay, but I would have rather been with you.” 

“At work?” Max asked with a laugh.

“Well maybe not at work…maybe in that library again,” Chloe said with a grin, “Least I get you all to myself tomorrow,” she said as she squeezed Max’s hand.

“For my assignment Chloe,” Max chided.

“Yeah yeah, but even professionals need to take make-out breaks right?”

Max narrowed her eyes at Chloe, “Hmm maybe one if you’re lucky.”

Chloe laughed, “Well I better enjoy it before we get to that party and I have to pretend we don’t do that.” 

Max felt guilt wash over her as she saw the sad smile that crossed the beautiful bluenette’s face, “Sorry.”

“It’s fine Max, honestly, kinda makes it exciting right?” 

“It’s not that I don’t want people to know, I’m just not good at getting attention drawn to myself. I mean mostly everyone who matters knows.”

“Max, it’s fine,” Chloe said, squeezing the girls knee, “I can wait until you’re ready before I shout it from the rooftops.”

Max looked out of the window at the familiar surroundings of Blackwell and said, “Ugh already?”

“Afraid so,” Chloe said before leaning in and giving Max a tender kiss. 

When they broke apart they leaned their foreheads against each other, “I kinda wish I could sneak you into my room.” 

“You’re filthy Miss.Caulfield.” 

Max shoved Chloe’s shoulder, “Perv.” 

“See you tomorrow?” 

Max gave Chloe another swift kiss before heading to the dorm. 

. . . . . . 

Max dumped her bag on her couch before she pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket.

“Chloe? Did I leave something in your truck?” she asked, glancing at her stuff.

“No…I uhh was just thinking about…fuck…argh.” 

“Chloe? What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing,” Chloe said in a whisper, “I was just thinking about this whole sneaking into your dorm thing.”

“Why are you whispering?” 

“On a scale of one to ten, how serious were you about that?”

“Chloe…” 

“Hope it was a ten,” she said hanging up.

Max stared at her phone for a second and then ran to her window but there was no sign of the blue-haired punk. She spun back around when she heard a soft knock at her door and nearly ripped it off the hinges.

She was met with the sight of a worried looking Chloe standing there with an awkward grin on her face.

“Chloe?!” 

“Shhh!” Chloe said, pushing a finger to her own mouth and stepping in, shutting the door behind her.

“Do you wanna get bu…” Chloe was cut off as Max threw her arms around her and planted her lips on the bluenettes mouth. 

Max could feel Chloe smirk against her own mouth and Max pulled away.

“Guess that’s a ten then huh?” Chloe asked.

Max giggled, “I can’t believe you’re here,” she pulled a stray leaf out of the girls beanie, “Ummm.”

“Yeah there was a situation, but it’s cool, no-one saw me.” 

“You’re crazy.”

“For you…yes.”

“Cheesy…but I’ll let it slide.”

“You’re too good to me,” Chloe said, pulling the girl closer to her, her hands settling on the girls waist. 

Max grazed her fingers down the girls cheek, savoring the softness of her skin and the beautiful curves of her face. Their eyes were locked and she swore she heard Chloe gulp before she leaned in towards her and delicately placed her lips against her own. It was a gentle, tender kiss and a stark contrast to the passion-filled kisses they had shared in the library or the coffee shop. It took Max’s breath away and she gasped as the blue haired girl wrapped her arms tightly around her, holding Max against her body. 

Chloe pulled away briefly to run her hand down the side of Max’s face, her thumb grazing the bottom of Max’s jaw, “You’re so beautiful.” 

Max felt her eyes water at Chloe’s words but she didn’t have time to respond to the compliment as Chloe’s lips returned to hers, hungrier, more passionate than before. She felt herself being backed up towards her bed, her hands moved up to Chloe’s shoulders and she pushed at the collar of her leather jacket, the punk taking the hint and shrugging it off. Max maintained contact with her lips as she lay back on the bed, pulling the girl down with her.

Chloe balanced her weight on her forearms as she lay on top of Max, she felt the girls hands tug at her beanie and then toss it across the room and she smiled into the brunettes mouth. She let out a moan when she felt Max’s fingers tangle in her hair and felt her nails scrape the back of her scalp. Chloe moved her mouth away from Max’s and started kissing down the girls jaw towards her neck. She gave small bites the closer she got to her ear and then ran her tongue lightly around the edge of it. She felt Max’s whole body shiver at the contact and the brunette’s hands moved to cling onto Chloe’s shoulders, digging her nails in slightly.

Chloe could feel her need for Max growing, could feel how turned on she was getting as she started biting and sucking at the girl neck whilst she maneuvered her thigh in between Max’s legs. Max gasped at the contact of Chloe’s thigh grinding against her crotch.

“F-uck,” Max breathed out and buried her head in Chloe’s shoulder, trying to stifle her moans.

Chloe felt herself get even more wet at the sound of Max’s expletive, she could feel Max kissing her shoulder and she moved one of her hands to Max’s torso and slid it under the fabric of her shirt.

She felt Max’s hands push slightly into her shoulders and she stopped her actions immediately.

“Chloe…” Max began.

‘Fuck,’ Chloe thought as she moved to lie next to Max and both girls tried to return their breathing to a steady pace, ‘Too fast…think unsexy things…okay Step-Douche naked…oh fuck no, too much, you don’t want to vom.’

Max saw the look of pain across Chloe’s face and assumed she was the cause of it, “I’m sorry,” she said, trying to hold back tears.

“Oh shit, no Max,” Chloe rushed to the girls side as she saw her upset, “don’t be sorry, it’s totally fine,” Chloe said as leaned on her side facing the girl, pushing her stray bangs out of her face. 

“I…need to tell you…”

“Max…it’s fine….”

“No but Chloe I’ve never, I’ve not…”

“Max I know,” Chloe said, taking the girls hand in her own and laying a kiss on the top of it. 

“You do?” Max asked, turning her body to the side to face Chloe.

“Well I kinda guessed you hadn’t done much before from what you said,” Chloe said, “So can I ask how far you’ve gone before?”

Max bit her lip anxiously, “Umm, well…you were kinda…my first kiss.”

Chloe’s eyes sprung wide open, “Are you kidding?”

Max felt her cheeks flush and wished she hadn’t admitted that, “I know, I’m a loser.”

“No Max, you’re fucking fantastic. I’m just impressed I managed to beat everyone else to you,” she said as she ran her hand through Max’s hair. 

Chloe saw the girls eyes well up and she pulled her closer, resting the brunette’s head on her chest as she kissed the top of her head. 

“Chloe…I feel so…intense with you…I feel like…”

“I know,” Chloe said, “I feel it too.”

Max could hear the blue-haired girls heart pounding in her chest, “Scary huh?”

“Hella.” 

Max let out a small laugh and Chloe smiled as she felt the girl wrap her arms around her tighter. Chloe’s eyes felt heavy as she ran her hand continuously through Max’s hair, the motion lulling her into sleep. She heard the brunette let out a small sigh and noticed her breathing indicated that the girl had clearly fallen asleep. Chloe let out a yawn and smiled, placing one last kiss to the top of Max's head before closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you'll forgive that this chapter isn't the longest, I was really in the mood to post an update. I say it every time but it's true - your comments and kudos mean the world to me. I just hit 3k views on this and nearly 300 kudos which is just mind boggling. I have spoken to a couple of artists about possible Fan-Art commissions for this work but no such luck yet. It would be nice but then it's always good to let your imagination paint the picture too right? :D 
> 
> Much love to you all, I might get an update at the weekend but I don't want to promise anything incase I don't manage. I will be at least getting an update up once a week...I just can't pinpoint which day of the week. Okay enough rambling...byeeee. 
> 
> If you would like to follow me -https://alybalyb.tumblr.com/


	10. Never Have I Ever

Chloe stretched her arms out on the bed as she was slowly lured from her slumber and immediately regretted it when she whacked her elbow against Max’s wall.

“Ah shit,” she grumbled and felt Max, who was still wrapped tightly around her torso, begin to stir.

“Time is it?” Max asked groggily.

Chloe squinted over at Max’s bedside table and rolled over the girl slightly to check the time on Max’s phone, smiling as she saw her selfie was now Max’s wallpaper.

“Just after eight,” Chloe replied, settling back onto the bed and placing a kiss on the brunette’s head.

Max glanced up at Chloe, “What you grinning about?” she asked, a grumpy frown on her face.

Chloe laughed, “Well someone's not a morning person.”

Max responded by tightening her grip on Chloe and snuggling in further into her embrace, “I guess it’s okay when you’re here.”

“Yeah sorry about the last minute sleepover, I didn’t exactly plan that.”

“Hmm I’m not complaining,” Max said before planting a quick kiss on Chloe’s chest and pulling herself up to sit on the bed, stretching and letting out a loud yawn, “better get showered.”

“You know…there are so many more fun things we could do today other than this photoshoot,” Chloe said as she ran her fingers up the back of Max’s top, lightly drawing circles across Max’s lower back with her fingers.

“Mmm Chloe,” Max shot the punk her best scolding look.

Chloe took the hint and moved her hand away, “Okay okay, I’ll behave.”

Max leaned over and gave Chloe a quick peck on the lips, “Just after eight am and you’re already a perv,” she said before getting out of the bed to grab a towel.

“That’s me - twenty four seven perving on you. Problem?”

Max looked over at Chloe who was propped up on one elbow, that signature smirk plastered on her face and her hair tousled from sleep and sighed, “Most definitely not.”

“So where do you want me today?” Chloe asked as she got off the bed, standing to stretch her arms above her head. She laughed as she saw Max’s gaze drift down to her exposed stomach, “Hey perv, my eyes are up here,” Chloe said with a wink, delighted in the blush she emitted from Max.

Max started grabbing her clothes for the day, avoiding eye contact with Chloe, “Well I was thinking, could we go to the skate park?”

Chloe looked at her quizzically, “Really?”

“Yeah you looked really beautiful last time we were there,” Max stated as she gathered her clothes and shower supplies in her arms.

Chloe felt that familiar dopey grin cross her face as she stared at Max for a few moments, “Uh so,” she said shaking herself from her stupor, “you want me to grab my board on the way?”

Max nodded, “If you don’t mind?”

“No problem,” Chloe thought, thankful that David and Joyce would be out of the house, “I’ll probably need to grab a shower too. Or you know…we could save the water and…” Chloe said as she lazily walked to Max, wrapping her hands around the girls waist and then giving her ass a quick squeeze.

Max giggled and pushed the girl back slightly with her arms which were carefully balancing all her clothes and shower supplies, “You just stay here and try to behave yourself.”

. . . . . .

Max had just exited the girls bathroom when she heard Rachel calling her name. Rachel had clearly been out for a run and was still trying to catch her breath, “Hey Rach, wow you’re up and about early,” Max said.

“Yeah,” Rachel replied, wiping sweat from her brow, “I am so pumped for tonight! You’re still coming right?”

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Max said as she tried her best to give the girl a look of excitement and not let the feeling of trepidation she was actually feeling show on her face.

Rachel raised an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced, “What’s wrong?”

Max laughed, ‘Chloe was right - Rachel can read people like a book.’

“I guess I’m a little nervous, I’ve never been to a party like this before. I don’t know if I’m gonna fit in, well, looking like this,” Max said, gesturing to her attire.

“Max, it’s gonna be totally chilled don’t worry. Also you will have Chloe on your arm, if anyone even so much as breathed at you the wrong way, she would be on it.”

Max laughed, “Yeah you’re not wrong. Thanks Rach,” Max said and began walking back to her dorm.

“Oh speaking of Chloe…saw her truck was out there?” Rachel asked, a wry smile across her face.

Max felt her face heat up with embarrassment, “Oh um…last minute sleepover,” Max said and jumped as Chloe’s appeared out of her door.

“Don’t be jealous Rach,” Chloe hollered over at the girl.

Rachel rolled her eyes as she started unlocking her room door, “Just thankful that you kept the noise down.”

“Oh we’re saving that for your bed tonight,” Chloe said and Max hid her face in her towel, dragging the blue haired girl back into the room.

Chloe was laughing at the flustered brunette, “Sorry, I couldn't resist.”

“You ass,” Max said, shoving the girls shoulder slightly before moving to grab her hairdryer.

“So about tonight?” Chloe asked as she sat on the bed and watched Max comb her hair, “After we’re done with the photoshoot, I figured I could come back and get you at like eight?”

“That would be nice. But Chloe, how am I getting back here? I mean, curfew is eleven.”

“Well, Rachel offered us one of her spare rooms,” Chloe saw in the mirror that Max’s eyes widened slightly at this new found information and she started nervously playing with the fabric of Max’s quilt that she was sitting on, “But we don’t have to, I can totally take you back here for eleven, like I don’t have to drink and we could just…”

She felt Max’s hand on her shoulder and looked up to meet her amused blue eyes, “Chloe, it’s fine, we can stay over.”

“Sweet,” Chloe said and threw herself back on the bed, crossing her hands behind her head and watching Max get ready for the day.

. . . . . .

“So this is it,” Chloe said as she opened the door to her room for Max to enter, relieved that on a Chloe scale of destruction, the room was averaging at a six at best right now, totally live-able.

“Wow,” Max said, looking around at the posters and graffiti scrawled on the walls.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, moving to her stereo and putting on some music, “home shit home,” she said, opening a CD case.

“I like it, it’s…you,” Max said and Chloe glanced over and smiled at the girl who was now sitting on her bed, looking around the walls.

Chloe froze when she heard the front door slam, ‘Fuck fuck fuck, I thought he was working today.’

“Chloe, get your butt down here,” David boomed from the hallway.

Chloe tried to give Max the best reassuring smile she could muster before she went to see what Step-Prick wanted. She definitely didn’t want him coming up the stairs and making Max witness any confrontation so she quickly went to meet him.

As Chloe made her way down the stairs he continued, “One of the guys said he saw you coming out of the library yesterday, Chloe what were you doing on campus? You’re gonna get yourself into trouble, you’re gonna get me into trouble.”

“Chill okay I was there for like two minutes,” Chloe said, stopping halfway down the stairs and leaning against the wall with her arms folded.

“Chloe this is serious, this is my work, I shouldn’t have to…”

“Sorry,” Max interrupted from the top of the stairs and Chloe sent a shocked glance her way, “I…that was my fault, I left my camera in Chloe’s truck and she knew I needed it for class so she went to find me.”

Chloe sent a smug glance David’s way as he opened and closed his mouth, “Huh…well, you should be more careful with your belongings.”

Chloe glared at David, “Fuck sake she just forgot, can you get off our asses now?”

David cleared his throat, “Uh well, I just came back for this,” he said, grabbing his security badge from the table in the hallway, “Just stay out of trouble for god’s sake.”

Chloe waited until the door was closed before she flipped David the double bird.

Max stood at the top of the stairs, looking at the blue-haired girl in concern, “Sorry, I just didn’t want you getting into trouble.”

Chloe smiled up at the girl, “It’s okay, I’m used to it,” Chloe said, moving up the stairs, taking the smaller girls hand and leading her back into her bedroom, “You’re cute - coming to my rescue.”

“Is he always like that?”

“Step-prick? Pretty much,” Chloe said, rummaging around her room, “Max, do you mind if I have a quick smoke before I go shower? Kinda in the mood for one right now.”

“Course I don’t mind,” Max said, wandering around the room and looking at the various pictures, postcards and posters, “You never mentioned him.”

“Well you probably recognize him from campus. Mom met him like two years after Dad died, let’s just say we’ve never seen eye to eye,” Chloe said as she rolled a joint.

“I guess that’s probably one of the reasons you want to get out of here so badly?” Max asked as she smiled at a strip of photos pinned to the wall with Rachel and Chloe making silly faces in them.

“I guess but,” Chloe said, exhaling smoke out of her window, “you’ve given me a reason to stick around.”

Max looked over at Chloe and saw that the blue-haired girl was watching her intently. Max felt her insides melt at the look and if it wasn’t for the joint in her hand, she probably would have launched herself across the room and into the girls arms. Chloe turned her head back towards the window, the smile still on her face as she took a deep drag of the joint. She spun her head round when she heard Max’s camera click and whirr as the photo was produced.

“I didn’t know we were starting this already,” Chloe said, “I’m sure you don’t want to waste too much of that expensive ass hipster film on me.”

“It would never be a waste if it was a picture of you,” Max said shyly, looking down at the polaroid before placing it safely in her bag.

Chloe was about to respond but laughed when she heard a loud rumble from Max’s stomach. She stubbed out her joint, “Let me get a shower and I’ll make you some breakfast.”

“Good plan,” Max said and Chloe gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing her towel and heading to the bathroom.

Max sat on Chloe’s bed and glanced behind her, noticing the polaroid she had given her was pinned to the bedside cabinet. She lay back and smiled at the photo running her finger across it.

‘I can’t believe she keeps this next to her bed,’ she thought. She lay back on Chloe’s bed and snapped a quick selfie in which she was winking and had her tongue sticking out. It came out a lot goofier than she had planned but she took some of the blu-tack from the back of the other picture and used it to affix it to Chloe’s bedside cabinet.

She heard Chloe enter again, “Making yourself comfortable?”

“Uh-huh, prob…” Max started as she sat herself up on her elbows, attempting to mimic Chloe’s earlier demeanor. She was caught off guard however at the sight of the blue haired girl standing in her jeans and bra, drying her hair with her towel. Max swallowed hard at the sight of Chloe’s exposed hip bones, her toned stomach, the curve of her breasts above her bra and she cleared her throat, “…lem.”

Chloe combed her fingers through her hair, pushing it back as a satisfied smile crept across her lips from seeing the flustered expression on Max’s face.

‘Worked like a charm,’ Chloe thought before stalking her way over to the bed.

“Something wrong?” Chloe asked innocently.

“Nope,” Max said, lowering herself back on the bed and turning her head to look at the photo’s again, “No. Definite nope.”

Chloe leaned over Max on the bed, the new photo catching her eye, “Ninja Max strikes again,” she said as she stared at the photo, “Cute.”

She looked back down and saw that Max’s gaze was fixed on Chloe’s form lying topless above her. She saw the girls breathing had increased and could see the flash of desire in her eyes as she felt Max’s hand move up her arm, running her fingers lightly across it.

Chloe lowered herself down slightly, placing a soft kiss on Max’s open mouth, lightly running her tongue across her bottom lip. She felt a sigh escape Max’s lips before she deepened the kiss and felt Max’s grip on her arm tighten as the brunette moaned softly into her mouth. As much as Chloe wanted the moment to continue, she knew that time was slowly ticking by and they needed to get to the skate park for Max’s assignment.

Chloe pulled back, lifting herself up slightly from the brunette, “I better get ready and get you fed.” she said before placing a light kiss on the girls forehead.

“Yeah I guess so,” Max said with a sigh and then giggled as water dripped onto her cheeks from Chloe’s hair, “besides, you’re making me wet.”

Chloe bit her lip as she tried to stifle the laugh but her resolve was over when she saw Max’s face change from confused to horrified and then embarrassed as the girl covered her face in her hands.

“Oh I did not just say that,” she mumbled from behind her hands.

“Good to know I have that affect on you Caulfield,” Chloe said before jumping off the bed to get ready. She laughed when she felt one of her pillows hit her back.

. . . . . .

“I had no idea you could cook,” Max said as she happily munched away at the pancakes Chloe had produced for her.

“Yeah, picked some stuff up from my Mom. She works at a diner around here.”

“So good,” Max continued as she finished up her last pancake and sighed contentedly.

“Glad you liked it,” Chloe said, getting up from the table to gather the plates and wash them up at the sink. She smiled when she felt Max’s arms wrap around her waist.

“Thank you,” Max said and placed a light kiss on Chloe’s shoulder.

“Well you know what they say,” Chloe said, drying her hands off and turning around the girls embrace, “The way to a girl’s heart is through her stomach.”

Max laughed, “You’ve found plenty of ways into my heart.”

“Is that so?” Chloe asked before capturing the brunettes lips with her own.

Max pulled back slightly, “Hmm we really need to get going.”

“Or we could just take loads of photos tonight and then just spend all day here?” Chloe asked hopefully.

“I don’t think I’m gonna get the shots I need tonight when you’re upside down drinking from a keg.”

Chloe laughed, “No not tonight, I’ll just be the girl standing staring at this beautiful dork,” she said, tapping her finger on the end of Max’s nose to emphasize her point.

“Chloe?” both girls broke apart when they heard Joyce’s voice from the hallway.

“Mom?!” Chloe shouted back confused, Max tried to stifle the grin on her face as she’s saw Chloe’s worried expression, clearly Chloe had not planned on Max meeting her mother so soon.

“I got off early, have you been cooking? Oh…” Joyce stopped as she entered the kitchen and saw Max standing here, “Hello.” she said.

“Hi,” Max replied, “I’m Max.”

“Oh so **you’re** Max?” Joyce said with a smile whilst Chloe face-palmed from behind the brunette, “Joyce, it’s so lovely to meet you,” she gushed, rushing over to shake the girls hand.

“Yeah, love to stand and chat but, Max we gotta go,” Chloe said as she tried to practically drag the girl away from her mother.

“You should come by for dinner sometime hon,” Joyce called out to Max as she was hurriedly rushed out the door.

“I’d love that, thank you Joyce,” Max managed to reply before she was shoved out of the door and towards Chloe’s truck.

. . . . . .

The skate park was busier than Max had hoped but they managed to find a spot on one of the half-pipes, “So you just want me to skate like normal?” Chloe asked before setting her board down on the edge.

Max nodded, “Yeah I’ll just take some shots and then we should probably try and get some close ups too.”

“Your wish is my command,” Chloe said before setting off.

Max took some shots of Chloe as she skated and noticed that she wasn’t the only one openly gaping at the blue haired girl. She definitely did have something about her that drew people’s attention.

‘I can’t believe it wasn’t that long ago that I was watching her here, realizing how I felt about her and now I’m sitting here watching her, knowing that she feels the same way.’

Max put her camera down and watched with a look of pride as Chloe pulled off some impressive moves. Eventually the punk pulled herself back up the half-pipe, grabbing a bottle of water from beside Max.

“Did you get enough?” she asked before gulping some of the water down.

“Plenty,” Max looked around at the busy area they were in, “is there anywhere else we could go that’s a bit more….private?”

Chloe waggled her eyebrows at Max who rolled her eyes in response.

“You know what I meant.”

“I just like making you squirm. I think I know the perfect place,” Chloe said before leading the girl to her truck.

. . . . . .

Max stepped out of the truck, taking in the sight of her surroundings, “Uh Chloe, I mean I’ll give you that it’s private but, it’s a junkyard.”

Chloe took the girl’s hand, “Come,” she commanded before walking her to Rachel and Chloe’s hide out.

“Oh,” Max said, stepping into the small space, “This is pretty cool actually, this could work.”

“Why would you ever doubt me Maximus?” Chloe said before taking a seat.

Max sat on the sofa at the other side and picked up the friendship bracelets from the make-shift table in front of her, “Cute,” she said with a smile, before placing them back down.

“Yeah this is me and Rachel’s secret spot,” Chloe said before picking up the discarded bracelets and examining them, “we would always come and hide out here whenever Step-Prick was giving me shit, she got me through a lot of hard times.”

Chloe heard the click and whirr of Max’s camera again, “Sorry,” Max said, feeling guilty for interrupting the moment, she just couldn’t resist. Chloe looked so raw and wistful in the shot and of course, as beautiful as ever. Max started to wonder how many hours she would need to pull at the coffee shop to stock back up on the film she had rapidly dwindled her supplies of today.

“Don’t be,” Chloe said, leaning back on the couch and pulling her legs up on it, “So how many more snaps you think you gotta get?”

“Actually,” Max started as she put her latest polaroid in her bag, safely slipping it beside the other pile, “I think I’ve got enough.”

“Really?” Chloe asked, “So you really did want to get me alone for other reasons?” Chloe asked with a wink.

Max took her bag off her shoulder and moved over to the blue haired girl noticing that Chloe’s confident smirk wavered slightly as she approached and leaned over her, one arm leaning on the back of the sofa to steady her balance, “Maybe,” Max said before lowering her head and kissing Chloe.

She felt Chloe’s hands move to her back and pull her in so that her weight was resting on Chloe’s body. Chloe ran her hands through Max’s hair as she moaned softly into the girls mouth and she wrapped one leg around her. Max moved her hand to Chloe’s knee which was now pressed into her hip and moved her hand down Chloe’s thigh emitting another moan from the girl. Max hesitated for a second before moving her hand to the girl’s stomach. She lifted her hand under the fabric of Chloe's tank top and could feel the girls muscles quiver under the touch.

She could feel Chloe’s breathing increase as she exhaled a deep breath against her mouth. She felt Chloe’s eager tongue explore her mouth and moaned as she felt the punk capture her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment before continuing to kiss her. Max moved her hand up Chloe’s stomach towards her bra, her heart hammering in her chest with every centimeter that she got closer to Chloe’s breasts. She hesitated, stopping her motions before she felt one of Chloe’s hands leave her hair and wrap around her wrist, urging the brunette on.

That was all the encouragement Max needed before she moved her hand over Chloe’s breast, applying some pressure and delighting in the moans that came from the blue-haired girls mouth as she grazed her thumb across the girls nipple before squeezing it between her thumb and forefinger.

“Fuck Max,” Chloe gasped into her mouth before she moved her hands round to firmly grasp Max’s ass.

Max could feel a need growing inside her, she felt like there was an ache that only Chloe could ease. She pulled down the girls bra slightly, moaning as her fingers came into contact with Chloe’s now naked breast. Chloe moved her hands from Max’s ass and ran them up the brunettes top, mimicking Max’s actions. Max gasped at the contact as she felt Chloe’s thumbs graze her nipples through the thin fabric of her bra and her eyes flung open in pleasure, her gaze locking with Chloe’s and her want growing as she saw the blue pools in-front of her were dark with lust.

A passing train shook Max slightly from her daze and she glanced around at their surroundings.

Chloe stopped her motions, “Yeah, not exactly the place you want to lose your virginity right?” she asked.

Max laughed slightly, “Hmm no definitely not. Sorry.”

Chloe wrapped her arms around Max, placing a gentle kiss on her lips, “Don’t be. I’ll wait, as long as it takes.”

Max placed her head on the girls chest.

“But you know,” Chloe continued, “If you did have a timescale in mind that you wanted to let me in on…”

Max laughed and jabbed the girl in the ribs in response making her laugh.

“Sorry sorry,” Chloe said, “You’re just so damn irresistible.”

Max laughed, "I know the feeling," she said and let out a shaky breath as she collected herself.

. . . . . .

Max returned to the dorm after Chloe had dropped her off to get ready and noticed that there was a dress folded on her bed with a note on it.

_Just incase you want to borrow something for the party. You totally don’t have to, but just incase. R xxx_

Max smiled and unfolded the dress, holding it out in front of her. It was shorter than her usual style for sure and she would have to dig out her trusty pair of heels but it was a really pretty dress and a lovely shade of dark blue.

Max stood in front of the mirror after she tried it on and was delighted that it fit perfectly, hugging a bit closer to her form than her other clothes usually did. She tried to pull it down slightly, a bit apprehensive about the length that stopped above her knee. She smoothed it down and moved back to her dresser, putting on some eyeliner and mascara, a little blusher and the trusty lipstick Kate had given her. She tousled her hair, running some product through it and slipped her heels on. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves as she assessed her appearance.

She was pleasantly surprised at what she saw, ‘Hmm not bad Max,’ she thought as she snapped a quick shot of herself in the mirror.

Her phone buzzed, indicating that Chloe was here, and she grabbed her bag - her usual satchel being swapped out for the only handbag that Max owned.

As she stepped out of the dorms, she saw Chloe approaching in the distance, her eyes locked on her phone screen as she was typing up a message. Max felt the familiar butterflies in her stomach as she took in Chloe’s appearance, it seemed she wasn’t the only one tonight who had made an effort. Chloe had swapped out her ripped jeans in favor of some skinny black ones, her usual boots were present and she had a white tank top. Her outfit was complete with a black blazer on which she had rolled the sleeves up, exposing her beautiful tattoo. Her hair was beanie-less, her blue and pink strands blowing around the beautiful face that finally looked up and saw Max.

Chloe smiled and opened her mouth to speak but her eyes were suddenly drawn down the length of Max and she stood there open mouthed. Max stood, rubbing her left arm self-consciously as Chloe’s eyes raked over her dress, down her legs and finally back up to meet her eyes.

“Wow,” was all Chloe could muster, “you look…wow,” Chloe continued as she moved closer to Max, taking one of the girls hands.

“You look pretty wow yourself,” Max said, squeezing the girls hand.

“Wow,” Chloe said again as she wrapped her hands around Max’s waist and the brunette laughed, moving her head forward to kiss her.

“Yo Chloe!”

Both girls separated quickly as they heard the voice of Justin approach.

“Hey Justin,” Chloe said, “Trevor,” she continued, nodding at the pair.

“Max, you look sick!” Justin said as his eyes looked the brunette girl up and down, mimicking Chloe’s earlier actions.

Chloe shot him a look which Trevor picked up on and he elbowed his friend.

Justin drew his eyes away and back to Chloe, “You guys going to Rachel’s party?”

“Yeah,” Chloe said, and then realized why she had been stopped, “You want a ride huh?”

“Thanks dude,” Justin said before he and Trevor made their way to Chloe’s truck, hopping onto the cargo bed.

“Is it safe for them to be in there?” Max asked as she climbed into the passenger seat.

Chloe started the truck, “It’s fine, it’s not that far,” she continued as she pulled away, “Besides, then they can’t see me do this,” she said as she slid her hand across and onto Max’s bare knee. She gave it a quick squeeze and shot Max a wink.

“I like your thinking,” Max said as she rested her hand on top of the bluenettes.

“Well gotta get in as much groping as I can before we get there,” Chloe said with a smirk before focusing her eyes on the road ahead.

Max sighed and looked out the window, troubled as it dawned on her what a conscious effort it was going to be to try and not make it look obvious that her and Chloe were together.

‘Why can’t I just have the balls to kiss her in front of everyone, who cares what they think?’ Max thought, and then frowned as she envisioned that happening and the stares, possible heckles and definite gossip that would result from it and she felt her anxiety creep in and felt her heart thump wildly in her chest, ‘Yeah okay that’s why I don’t have the balls,’ she thought sadly.

. . . . . .

“Guys!” Rachel yelled as she opened the door to the group and they made their way into the house. Justin and Trevor bee-lined for the kitchen to get a drink.

“Max you look great,” Rachel said as she pulled her into a hug.

“All thanks to you,” Max said.

“Nah you pull it off way better than me.”

“I’d say so,” Chloe said and Rachel punched her in the arm, “Ow!”

“Get Max a drink,” Rachel demanded and pointed to the kitchen before reconvening with her other friends in the living room.

It was as busy as Max had expected, given Rachel’s popularity, and she stayed close behind Chloe as she was led to the kitchen.

“So what will it be for the lady?” Chloe asked as she cracked open a bottle of beer for herself.

“Um, I don’t really drink.”

Chloe quirked an eyebrow and then put the beer back down on the counter, “That’s cool, we don’t have to drink.”

Max smiled at the girls actions, “Chloe you don’t have to not drink just because I might not.”

“Ohh ‘might’, that sounds like a challenge,” Chloe said before moving to the fridge, “Ah-hah, you’ll like this,” Chloe said, twisting off the top of a wine cooler and handing it to Max, “Trust me.”

Max took the drink and gave it a quick sniff before taking a sip, “Hmm, not bad actually.”

Chloe smiled and clinked her bottle against Max’s, watching as the girl took a longer drink from her wine cooler.

“So…we’ve been here about five minutes and already all I wanna do is push you against this counter and kiss you,” Chloe said as she took a swig.

Max choked slightly on her drink and watched as the blue haired girl chuckled in response, “Tease,” Max said.

“Says you - in that damn dress,” Chloe said as she lazily drew her eyes up Max’s legs.

Max blushed in response and Chloe decided not to torment the girl any more, “So you wanna go hang out in the living room?”

Max nodded and moved towards the living room. Rachel waved Max over to the empty spot next to her on the sofa and Max obliged. She looked back and saw that Chloe was near the door, having been caught by Justin in the hallway and now seemingly in an animated conversation with the boy.

“Never have I ever,” Rachel started, “Umm…been drunk,” Rachel said as she took a swig of her drunk.

Various groans emitted from the room as everyone drank, “That one was lame Rach,” one of the guests said.

“I couldn’t think. Anyway, Max’s turn.”

“What are we playing?” Max asked nervously, suddenly feeling all eyes in the room on her.

“Oh, basically you say something like ‘Never have I ever, uh…eaten bread’ and if you have then you have to drink,” Rachel explained, “Only not bread…that was just an example.”

“Oh okay, um…never have I ever, eaten pasta?” Max said before drinking.

Louder groans emitted around the room as everyone drank.

“Okay my turn,” Max smiled as she saw Chloe approach, sitting on the arm of the sofa next to Max.

“Never have I ever been so rat assed drunk that I thought it was a good idea to climb the town Christmas tree, caught my ankle in the fairy lights, fell and swung from it upside down and then…”

“One time!” Rachel said before chugging her drink, “Don’t you dare continue that story!”

Chloe laughed and looked down at Max as the rest of the room continued the game, “You okay?” she asked.

“Never better,” Max replied. She felt that her cheeks were flushed slightly from the alcohol and it had left her with a pleasant buzz that admittedly made her feel more relaxed.

Max looked around the room as everyone continued playing the game, she recognized some of the people from campus. One girl approached, taking a seat opposite her and Chloe, Max let her eyes wander over the girls face too long and the girl smiled in response.

‘Are you frigging kidding me?’ Max thought as it dawned on her who it was, ‘Skana-saurus,rex is here?’

Chloe glanced over and saw Max frowning and followed her gaze to the girl from laser-tag who was already sending a coy smile in Chloe’s direction. Chloe nodded at the girl in recognition, not wanting to give her any kind of sign that she was interested. It became increasingly more awkward as they continued with the game and the girl kept sending glances in Chloe’s direction.

Max felt the jealousy creeping in, even more than the first time she had encountered the Jurassic creature, she wished she had the guts to just reach out and take Chloe’s hand, give the girl a clear sign that she was off-limits.

Her thoughts were interrupted as the girl took her turn in the game, “Never have I ever…slept with a woman,” the girl said as she shoot a look to Chloe before taking a swig of her drink.

Max heard various whoops of excitement around the room and saw Chloe shrug before taking a quick swig of her drink. The grin of delight on the skank’s face made her stomach turn. Chloe inspected her empty bottle, “You want another?” she asked, gesturing at Max’s empty bottle.

“Absolutely,” Max said, handing the empty bottle to Chloe, “Thanks.”

Chloe squeezed her shoulder before leaving, “I’ll be right back.”

Max nodded and briefly shot a look at the skank who watched Chloe as she left the room.

“So how was the photo-shoot?” Rachel asked.

“Hmm, oh it was fine,” Max replied distracted, keeping her eyes on the skank for any future movements.

“Max, are you okay?” Rachel started before she spotted Justin on the other side of the living room balancing a vase on his head, “Justin!” she screamed causing Max to jump slightly.

Rachel rushed over to the boy to save her mother’s antique vase. Max looked back to where the skank had been but the spot was now empty. She felt the sofa sink slightly next to her and turned her head, coming face to face with the predator.

“Hey, you were at laser tag right?”

Max nodded, “Yeah that’s right.”

“Cool,” the girl said, seemingly oblivious to Max’s icy demeanor, “So your friend Chloe, is she seeing anyone right now?”

“Actually,” Max started, a smug smile forming on her face, “she definitely is.”

“Oh,” the girl said and then shrugged, “well I always like a challenge,” she said with a smirk before getting off the sofa and making her way to the kitchen.

Max sat for a moment, her brain trying to digest what had just happened when Rachel sat back down, “What a fucking idiot that boy is sometimes…Max? What’s wrong?”

“Uh…skank,” Max offered.

“What? Oh that girl from laser tag? Did you see her practically drooling over Chloe?”

Max nodded, “She asked me if she was seeing someone and I said yeah but she went off anyway and…what if she makes a move?”

“Sorry Max, I didn’t even invite her here, she’s friends with someone I know. Anyway, it doesn’t matter if she makes a move, Chloe would never do anything.”

“I know that, I just,” Max sighed, “I don’t want to hide me and Chloe anymore.”

Rachel ran her hand down the girls arm to comfort her, “Then don’t Max.”

Max looked up at Rachel, saw the reassuring smile on her face and it was like Max had a lightbulb moment, it all suddenly dawned on her that it really didn’t have to be that difficult, all she had to do was stop hiding it. Chloe would be by her side if she got any shit for it and the gossip mill would die down surely. Besides, it was 2013, no-one seemed to give a shit Chloe was into girls, why should they care that Max was one of those girls?

With new found determination, Max made her way to the kitchen. She stopped in the hallway and could see the girl had already cornered Chloe near the counter where the drinks were. Her heart swelled when she saw that Chloe was doing her best to be polite but her flirty demeanor that Max was so used to seeing was nowhere to be found.

Chloe glanced up and look relieved to have a reason to flee, “Max!” she said, pushing her way past the skank to make her way to the hallway. She stopped in front of her with the drinks in her hands and looked at her curiously, “You okay? Your face looks really intense right now,” she stated.

Max moved forward and raised herself up on her tip-toes, grabbing the front of Chloe’s blazer for leverage before placing a hard kiss on her lips.

Chloe’s eyes sprung open wide in surprise as she muffled, “Mmph - wait.”

Max moved away and covered her face in her hands, “Sorry…shit, I shouldn’t have…” Max started and then felt Chloe’s arms wrap around her waist.

“I just wanted to put the drinks down you dork,” she said before leaning down and kissing Max.

Chloe felt Max’s smile on her lips as she continued to kiss her. She could hear some whoops, cheers and wolf-whistles around her as their display gathered attention from the other party goes. She distinctly heard a ‘Yay’ from Rachel followed by some excited clapping.

Max could not care any less about the other people in the room - all she cared about was the girl standing in front of her, kissing her.

Chloe pulled away slightly, “So does that mean I can tell everyone that,” Chloe coughed, clearing her throat and then bellowing, “MAX CAULFIELD IS MY GIRLFRIEND?”

Max covered her ears in response to Chloe’s bellow and then laughed, “I think you kinda just did. C’mere,” she said before pulling the punk back into a kiss.

. . . . . .

Several hours and several wine coolers later and Max was absolutely in the party spirit. She laughed as she danced around the living room with Chloe to some old school pop-punk, Rachel was standing on the sofa, jumping up and down to the music. Some of the party-goers were fast asleep, oblivious to the chaos around them. Thankfully, skanka-saurus had made a swift exit after Max’s display.

Chloe flopped down on the sofa, leaving Max to dance with Justin and Trevor, trusting the two boys wouldn’t get too handsy with her girl, ‘They know that would result in some lost fingers,’ Chloe thought and then laughed as Max spun around several times in place, clearly drunk, ‘Uh-oh, you’re gonna feel this tomorrow princess.’

Rachel planted herself back down on the sofa next to Chloe, resting her head on the girls shoulder, “You guys are sooo cute,” she slurred.

Chloe nudged her head with her shoulder, “Shut up,” she scolded but she couldn’t wipe the grin from her face.

Rachel stared at her, slightly cross eyed from all the booze, before pointing a finger in Chloe’s face, “You love her,” she stated.

Chloe quickly put her hand over Rachel’s mouth and shot a quick glance over to Max who was thankfully oblivious, “Shh, this is not how I want her to find that out.”

Chloe could feel the vibrations under her hand as Rachel said, “Aaaawwww.”

Chloe removed her hand and shoved Rachel slightly, “Fuck off.”

“I’m just so happy for you Chloe,” Rachel sniffled and Chloe looked at her in alarm.

“No Rach, please don’t…”

“I’m just,” Rachel sniffled again before tears started to form and she started sobbing, “I’m so happy for you, I love you so much,” the girl said before pulling Chloe into a hug.

Chloe rolled her eyes at her drunken friend, “I love you too, you idiot.”

A loud thump drew both girls attention away as they saw Max tumble to the floor.

Chloe quickly jumped off the sofa to pull her girlfriend up, “Okay babe, I think it’s time for bed.”

Max giggled as Chloe pulled her up, “No no, I’m…aww, you called me babe,” Max said as she flung her arms around Chloe’s shoulders, planting a slightly sloppy kiss on her lips.

“Bed,” Chloe commanded, pushing the girl away and practically carrying her towards the spare room.

. . . . . .

As soon as they entered the room, Chloe locked the door and turned round to see Max sprawled across the double bed.

“Hey, scoot over hippie,” Chloe said as she made her way over.

Max got off the bed, trying to unzip her dress, frowning as her attempts failed, “Chloeee, I need to get this off.”

“Turn around,” Chloe said, laughing at the girls frown. Max obliged and Chloe lowered the zip on her dress, her breath caught in her throat as she took in the sight of Max in her underwear and she realized that they didn’t exactly come prepared with pajamas.

Max in her boozy stupor seemed to realize this too and stood self-consciously with her arms wrapped around her chest as the dress fell around her to the floor and she stepped out of it. She quickly made her way over to the bed and dived under the covers.

Chloe moved over to the bed and attempted to lift the quilt to get in but Max firmly pressed the edge down, “Sorry, this is a no-clothes zone.”

Chloe laughed, “Oh really?”

Max nodded and Chloe rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and lifting her shirt over her head before moving to unbuckle her belt and take off her jeans. When she looked back at Max, the girl was openly staring at her semi-naked form and she had her bottom lip pulled between her teeth.

“Don’t look at me like that Max,” Chloe said as she felt her insides tighten with desire, she moved to switch off the light, “I’m trying to be well-behaved and not take advantage of your drunken state,” Chloe continued as she moved under the covers, wrapping her arm around Max’s waist and leaning over her, “but you’re making it really difficult.”

Max wrapped her fingers around the back of Chloe’s head and pulled the girl down, meeting her lips half-way. Chloe groaned at the contact and felt her willpower quickly draining from her as she maneuvered so she was fully on top of Max. She slipped her thigh between the girls legs and heard Max gasp at the contact. She continued to roll her hips and increase the pressure of her thigh against Max’s crotch as she felt the girls nails dig into her back.

Suddenly she felt Max’s whole body stiffen, felt the girls hands move to the front of her shoulders. Chloe opened her eyes and recognized the look on Max’s face immediately and quickly moved off of her.

“It’s an en-suite, that door right there,” Chloe said, pointing to the bathroom as Max quickly rolled off the bed and darted towards it.

Chloe grimaced as she heard the girl throw up in the toilet. After the sound died down, she moved into the bathroom, grabbing a glass and filling it with water before handing it to the girl who was now hanging over the toilet.

“Don’t look at me,” Max said, flushing the toilet and taking a small sip of water, “I’m all gross and spewey.”

Chloe sat on the floor and rubbed her hand up and down the girls back gently, “You’re never gross…even if you are spewey. Come on let’s get you in bed.”

Max allowed herself to be led back onto the bed and turned away from Chloe, facing outwards on the bed, Chloe moved in slightly behind her, spooning her.

‘Not exactly how I imagined the second sleepover going,’ she thought as she lightly kissed the back of Max’s head, ‘but I’ll take it’.

She felt Max’s arm move and she started patting around the bed behind her, clearly searching for something. Chloe felt Max grab her hand and pull her arm over her with determination, locking Chloe’s arm in place and pushing herself back to cuddle into her. Chloe laughed at the girls actions, ‘Yeah I’ll definitely take this any day.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sounding like a broken record at this point but - the lovely comments and messages I've received this week have really put me on cloud nine. Honestly, you guys have no idea how much your positive feedback and messages mean to me. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I promise at some point there will be no train or drunken spew interruptions ;) I've also been working on the outline for this story and it's shaping up to be a lot longer than I originally planned and there might be some very small slight *takes a deep breath* angst on the way. But trust me, I got you boo - you know this Pricefield train is all about the fluff and feels. 
> 
> In terms of updates, life is getting pretty busy next week (travelling around with work, family and friends coming to visit) so it might be a little longer for an update but I promise I will try and not leave you hanging for too long. 
> 
> I want to say - thank you so much to VengeSim for this absolutely adorable Fanart: http://vengesim.deviantart.com/art/Watching-You-Work-681472495?ga_submit_new=10%3A1495217650
> 
> If you haven't checked out VengeSim's story 'All the Scars you Cannot See' - please do as it is an amazing piece of writing that has me hooked and fan-girling like there's no tomorrow. 
> 
> Also, thank you so much to starkissedrain for the shout out on 'Cause I Have Hella Feelings For You' - this story is shaping up to be really fantastic and I cannot wait to see what happens next (again with the fan-girling) 
> 
> Okay I'm done rambling now, thanks again all of you so much (okay I'm turning into an emotional Rachel like in this chapter, get me off the feels train!)


	11. Holy Hangover Batman

Chloe awoke with a start when she felt Max’s arm collide with her face, “Shit,” she grumbled, lifting the arm up and squinting one eye open into the morning lit room. She gently placed Max’s arm back down by her side and turned to smile at the hipster who was completely dead to the world, her mouth slightly parted and a frown on her face as she slept. Chloe tucked a stray lock of hair behind Max’s ear and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before quietly sneaking out of the room to go to the bathroom. She gargled some mouthwash on her way out in an attempt to rid the bad taste from her mouth of her night of smoking and drinking. Grabbing her shirt from the floor, she quickly threw it on before stepping out into the hall. 

She stepped over a comatose Justin in the hallway and glanced into the living room to see several bodies scattered on the sofas, fast asleep. She made her way through to the kitchen to find Rachel sprawled over the kitchen counter fast asleep with a forgotten bag of garbage in her hand - obviously having at least attempted a morning clean up. Chloe quietly made her way to the cupboards, searching for one of the remaining clean glasses and filling it with water before heading back up the stairs.

When she entered the room, Max was sitting up in the bed with her head in her hands.

“How are you feeling princess?” Chloe asked as she handed the girl a glass of water before stripping back down to her underwear and climbing back into the bed, leaning against the headboard.

“Uuuuggghhh,” was all Max could respond, her voice hoarse, before taking a sip of the water, “Thanks,” Max said before handing the glass back to Chloe.

Chloe placed it on the beside table as Max lay down on Chloe’s lap, “I’m never drinking again,” Max declared.

Chloe chuckled, “If I had a dollar for every time I heard that,” she said whilst running her hands through the girls tousled brown hair. 

Max hummed at the sensation and then her eyes widened as their half-naked form sunk in, “Um, Chloe…we didn’t…”

“Make hot monkey love? You mean you don’t remember?”

Chloe felt the girls body tense up and laughed, “Chill Max, I’m kidding - nothing happened.” 

Max relaxed a little, “Sorry, I mean I remember stuff, I remember dancing-“

“Well what you call dancing anyway,” Chloe cut in.

Max lightly slapped the girls thigh in response before continuing, “I remember throwing up for sure, gross…I remember playing that game, oh and skank-a…um-.”

“Skanka-um?”

“Nothing.” 

Chloe leaned forward, kissing the brunette’s head, “You’re hella cute when you’re jealous Max.”

“Not jealous,” Max mumbled before they were interrupted by a knock at the door. 

“Are you guys naked in there?” Rachel asked.

“No-“ Max replied

“Absolutely,” Chloe added in unison.

Rachel pushed open the door, flinching at the noise it made when it slammed against the wall. She was standing in the doorframe with a forlorn looking on her face, attempting to get her brain to process movement. She dragged herself over to the bed and flopped down on the end of it face down, “I’m never drinking again,” her muffled cry declared.

“Told ya,” Chloe said, poking Max’s arm and emitting a grunt in response from the brunette, “Rach, you look like shit.” 

Rachel leaned her body up slightly, leaning on her side and flipped Chloe off, “How are you feeling this morning party-Max?”

“No, no party Max,” Max mumbled in response, “I’m never drinking again.”

“Come on, that was just practice for the blow-out I’m having after exams,” Rachel replied.

“At the cabin? You’re doing that this year? Awesome,” Chloe chimed in.

Rachel glared at Chloe, “I didn’t say you were invited.”

Chloe responded by jabbing her foot in Rachel’s side under the covers causing the girl to laugh, “Max you wanna come to my blow-out?”

“Sure,” Max responded, her voice still foggy from sleep, “Can I bring my girlfriend?”

Chloe flipped Rachel off with a grin on her face, “I guess so,” Rachel responded rolling her eyes in faux-annoyance.

“Ugh I have so much stuff I need to do today,” Max said whilst hauling herself up to sit on the bed. 

Chloe rubbed her back soothingly, “You still feel like your gonna hurl?”

Max shook her head, “No, thank god.”

“Ugh I need some hangover food. Chlo…” Rachel started.

“No,” Chloe cut in.

“But…Chloe, you know I love you…” Rachel said as she crawled towards Chloe with her best puppy dog expression.

“Not happening, I’m not taking you to The Two Whales.”

“But they do the best waffles around!” Rachel protested.

“Oooh, waffles,” Max repeated, her eyes lighting up.

Chloe sighed and placed a quick kiss on Max’s cheek, “Well I can’t exactly say no to that face.”

“Oh,” Rachel said, sitting up, “but you can say no to mine?” she exclaimed, her make up from last night smeared across her face and her hair sticking out in all directions.

Chloe paused, “Yup,” she concluded before hopping off the bed to get changed. She picked up Max’s dress, handing it to the girl, “Um, maybe you could borrow something from Rach?”

“Oh yeah, I think we’re about the same size, lemme grab something,” Rachel said, pulling herself off the bed and rushing to the next room, eager to head out for food, "Okay everyone up and out!" she yelled to the party stragglers who groaned in response.

Chloe pulled her jeans on and looked over at Max who was rubbing her temples. She smiled at the sight of her hungover girlfriend and crawled on the bed towards her, “Hey,” she said, causing Max to lift her head up to look at her, “You’re cute when you’re hungover.”

Max pouted, “I don’t feel really cute right now.”

Chloe continued to crawl towards her, “Well you look it to me,” she said, coming closer towards Max.

Max covered her mouth, “Chloe no,” she said, turning her head away, “I need to brush my teeth!”

Chloe continued moving forward, “Who said I was going for your lips?” she asked before diving into Max and burying her face in the girls neck. 

Max erupted into giggles as she felt Chloe kissing her neck repeatedly, “Argh Chloe, stop!”

“Oh my god, my eyes!” Rachel said from the doorway causing both girls to stop and look round. 

“We weren’t doing anything,” Max said between giggles.

Rachel tossed a pair of jeans and a shirt into the room, her hand still remaining in place over her eyes, “I’m not taking the chance to look - there’s stuff in the bathroom if you wanna freshen up, help yourself.”

Chloe rolled off Max and watched as the girl hurriedly ran to grab the clothes, the action causing her to laugh, “You're _still_ all shy in front of me Max?” she asked with a smirk.

Max frowned at her, holding her clothes to her chest, “Just…finish getting dressed,” she said, tearing her eyes from Chloe’s bra-clad chest.

“Are you saying this isn’t a good look?” Chloe asked innocently as she stood up from the bed and slowly ran her hands from the front of her shoulders, down towards her chest and then over her breasts, across her stomach and finally rested them on her hips.

Max bit her lip and let out a groan before she dived into the bathroom - she could hear Chloe chuckling from the other side.

. . . . . .

Max emerged from the bathroom several minutes later, feeling a little bit bad-ass in Rachel’s flannel shirt and her ripped jeans. She opened the door to the bedroom and Chloe glanced up from looking at her phone. Max took delight in the sight of her eyes opening wide and her mouth gaping open. 

“Wow Max, you look…kinda hot in that,” she said and swallowed as her mouth went dry.

“Kinda?” Max asked with a pout.

Chloe quickly got up from the bed, placing her hands on the girl’s hips, “Really hot,” she corrected and before leaning in for a kiss she paused, “Wait, can I-“

“All minty fresh,” Max replied and pulled the taller girl down to kiss her. 

The kiss that started as tender soon began to heat up with both girls gasping for air, their hands roaming all over the other’s body as Max was led back by Chloe until she was pressed against the wall. Chloe ran her hands from Max’s shoulders, down the girls arms before grabbing her wrists and lifting her arms up to press them against the wall. Max groaned at the feeling of Chloe clasping her wrists and pushed her body firmly against Chloe's. 

“Oh god not again!” Rachel exclaimed as she stepped back into the room, “Can you guys at least wait until I’ve eaten?”

. . . . . . 

Chloe hid her burning face behind a menu as her mother gushed over Max, “I’m just so happy to see Chloe with such a lovely young woman,” Joyce continued.

“Thanks Joyce,” Max replied, the embarrassment evident in her complexion, “you’re really kind.”

“You know we really need to have you over for that dinner, how about Tuesday?” Joyce said.

“Could we start with getting some breakfast first?” Chloe asked with a frown.

“You be patient! What’s wrong with a mother wanting to get to know her daughter’s girlfriend?” 

Chloe groaned and lifted the menu again and Rachel laughed, taking too much pleasure in watching Chloe cringe. 

Max chewed her lip nervously, trying to gauge Chloe’s reaction before deciding how to answer, but the girl was safely hidden behind the menu, “Uh yeah Tuesday would be great Joyce.”

“Wonderful,” Joyce beamed, “okay, what can I get you ladies?” she asked, drawing out her notepad and pen.

“I think it’s waffles all round Joyce,” Rachel replied. 

“No problem,” Joyce said before squeezing Max’s shoulder, “so lovely to see you again Max, really,” she said before disappearing towards the kitchen.

Chloe lowered the menu, “Thank fuck for that.”

Max laughed, “I think she’s nice,” she said with a smile as she slid out of the booth, “I just gotta run to the bathroom,” she said before squeezing Chloe’s hand and leaving the table.

“Dum dum duh-dum,” Rachel began humming the wedding march as Chloe shot her a look of death, “Duh-dum du…Ow!” she exclaimed as Chloe whacked her across the head with the menu.

“Fuck off,” Chloe said, but it was evident she was trying hard to stifle the smile on her face.

. . . . . . 

The trio made their way out of the diner, groaning at their full stomachs, “That was just what I needed,” Rachel stated.

“I don’t know if I feel better or worse,” Max said and Chloe laughed, throwing her arm around the girls shoulder and walking towards the truck.

“Yo Chloe?” 

Chloe turned around to see a familiar face standing next to the door of the diner, “Yo Dave!” she said, fist bumping the tall tattooed, pierced and green haired man, “Long time no see, how’s the studio going? Didn’t think I’d see you back in this hick town.”

“Just visiting the family, couldn’t resist one of your Mom’s famous burgers. Hey, I was hoping I’d run into you.”

“Yeah?”

Dave dug into his pockets and pulled out a business card, handing it to the confused bluenette, “My buddy’s opened a studio in L.A. Business is booming dude and I know you have some sick sketches so he said to give you his card if you’re still looking to get into the business? Probably wouldn’t be the best wages and it’s starting right from the bottom but you know, it’s a start right?”

Chloe looked at the card, a stunned expression on her face as a million thoughts swam through her head, “Uh…yeah I’ll do that. Thanks dude.”

The pair exchanged fist bumps again before he left to enter the diner. 

“Wow,” Max said, trying her best to maintain her fake-smile, “that’s great Chloe.”

“Uh yeah, I guess so,” Chloe said, as she turned the card over and over in her hands before shaking herself out of her stupor and leading the girl’s towards her truck. 

“So that’s exciting?” Rachel asked as they sat in the truck, trying to break the awkward atmosphere that had developed between Chloe and Max.

Chloe put the card in her jacket pocket, “Hmm yeah,” she said, starting the engine of her truck, “You want dropped off back at your folks?” 

“Yeah I need to clean up the mess from last night,” Rachel said, glancing at Max who was staring out of the window, “So what exciting plans have you guys got for the day?”

Chloe remained silent, seemingly lost in thought and eventually Max spoke up, “Uh I just need to finish my assignment for tomorrow.” 

“Oh yeah, man that sucks,” Rachel replied, “still - not long to go until all these exams are over right?”

Max nodded in agreement and the awkward silence continued. Rachel was relieved when they pulled up to her house and she quickly said her goodbyes and departed.

When the truck pulled up to a stop outside Blackwell, the two girls sat in awkward silence again before Max eventually decided to bring up the elephant in the room, “Chloe, we should talk about what happened.” 

“What do you mean?” Chloe asked, feigning ignorance as she turned the ignition off and eventually turned her gaze towards Max and let out a sigh, “Shit yeah - okay.” 

“This is a really good opportunity for you,” Max continued.

“I know,” Chloe conceded, “but Max, fuck, I just found you. I don’t want to go anywhere you’re not,” she said as she turned in the seat and took the girls hands in her own, rubbing her thumbs over the girls knuckles.

Max smiled at the contact, “I know, but we can make it work right? I mean, I don’t want you to give up an opportunity like this for me.” 

“I would,” Chloe replied, as her eyes stared deeply into Max’s blue pools, “in a heartbeat.”

Max removed one hand from Chloe’s grasp and ran her fingers down the girl’s cheek, stopping to cup the left side of her face as Chloe turned her head to kiss her palm, “I don’t want that,” Max said. 

Chloe let out a deep breath, “Max, can we just leave it for just now? I just...I need to think about it.”

Max nodded in response, “Of course, I better get inside and get this damn assignment finished.”

Chloe pulled Max into a kiss, when their lips parted they remained with their foreheads resting against each other. 

‘Fuck I love you,’ Chloe thought, it was on the tip of her tongue and she opened her mouth to let her heart scream out.

“Max I-“

Max pulled back slightly and Chloe blinked a few times, attempting to pluck the up the courage. 

Chloe opened and closed her mouth a few times, “Uh, good luck with your assignment.”

Max smiled and placed a swift kiss on Chloe’s cheek before hopping out of the truck and making her way back to the dorms. She spun around when she heard Chloe’s horn sound and looked quizzically at the girl who was rubbing her forehead. Chloe gave her a grimace and wave and she laughed it off before disappearing out of Chloe’s sight.

. . . . . .

Max giggled at the sensation of the sharpie moving across her inner arm as she sat with her legs dangling off the counter at the coffee shop.

“Keep still or you’re gonna mess it up,” Chloe said with a laugh as she held the girls arm down. 

“How am I gonna get this off?”

“Well you should have thought about that before you agreed to let me do this,” Chloe said whilst reaching across and picking up a different colored sharpie.

Max had agreed during one of the quietest nights at work to let Chloe ‘ink’ her. She was enjoying the close proximity of the blue haired girl and also a little intrigued to see what kind of artwork Chloe would produce.

“I wanna see it,” Max said, trying to get a glimpse.

Chloe used her hand to cover her work, “Just wait, I’m nearly done.” 

Max huffed in response, “So what about this blow-out that Rachel was talking about? What happens there?”

“Well,” Chloe started and then pulled off the cap of another sharpie with her teeth before letting it drop onto the counter, “Rachel’s parents own this cabin a couple of hours out of town and once in a while Rach gets free reign of it to party and shit. It’s nice and peaceful out there, you’ll love it you little hipster.” 

“It’ll be good to have a blow-out after exams I guess, but I’m seriously not drinking again,” Max bit her lip, “Speaking of exams, I kinda had to ask James if I could cut back my hours here.”

Chloe looked up at Max, her brow creased and the anguish evident in her eyes, “What?” she muffled out through the sharpie now held between her teeth.

“I know, it sucks, but I have so much work to do,” Max said as she pushed Chloe’s hair back and gave her her best reassuring smile.

Chloe sighed, pulling the sharpie out of her mouth, “At least I’ll be in here taking all of you slacker students dropped hours so I won’t be a distraction for you,” she replied with a wink, “and it’s a good time for me to make some extra cash I guess.”

Max chewed her lip, debating raising the topic that they had avoided since yesterday, “Chloe, that guy from yesterday - did you get in touch with him?”

Chloe avoided Max’s eyes as she replied, “Yeah I did.”

Although Max knew it was the right thing for Chloe to do, she couldn’t help the feeling of her stomach summersaulting and the painful lump that formed in her throat along the audible sound it made when she attempted to swallow it down and keep her composure. Chloe looked up at her in concern and saw the upset look on Max’s face, “See this is why I didn’t want to do this - I can’t stand that look on your face right now,” she said before kissing Max’s cheek.

“No it’s fine Chloe,” Max said with a reassuring smile, “I mean, this is really exciting for you.”

Chloe shrugged and went back to work on her masterpiece on Max’s arm, “It probably won’t come to anything Max,” Chloe said before closing the sharpie and placing it on the counter, “Okay all done, whaddya think?”

Max looked down at her arm and her mouth gaped open, “Wow that’s...I mean, wow!” Max gushed as she studied the art on her arm.

Chloe laughed, “It’s only a sharpie Max calm down.”

“Yeah but you’re just so talented, you blow my mind,” Max said as she hopped off the counter.

Chloe pulled the girl closer to her by the hips, “Hmm given the chance I could blow your mind in other ways,” she purred. 

Max felt a wave of desire wash through her at Chloe’s words and she quickly changed the topic, remembering their current location, “So I hope this comes off before dinner at your place tomorrow night,” she said as she looked down at her arm again.

“Ugh don’t remind me,” Chloe replied.

Max laughed, “It’s not that bad Chlo,” she turned her head to face the door as a few customers entered.

“I just want you all to myself, is that so wrong?” Chloe asked before slapping Max’s ass lightly, causing the brunette to jump as she moved away to serve the approaching customers.

. . . . . . 

“…and you know she wore that thing everywhere we went until she was, oh I dunno, six? I couldn’t get her to take that damn Batman cape off - my sister’s wedding, your grandpa’s funeral, God rest his soul-”

Chloe groaned in embarrassment next to Max who giggled in response to Joyce’s story.

“I thought you were gonna wear that thing all the way up to college,” Joyce said.

David grunted in response to the college statement and Chloe shot him a look of death, gripping tightly to her fork. She felt Max’s hand under the table reach over and squeeze her knee and she turned her head towards the brunette, all anger quickly dissipating as she looked at Max's reassuring smile and she returned a dopey grin in response.

“Well what can I say?” Chloe asked as she jabbed the food on her plate with the fork, “I’ve always had a bad-ass sense of style,” she concluded, shooting a wink to Max.

Once dinner was finished and Joyce insisted that they didn’t have to clean up since Max was a guest (much to Chloe’s delight) the pair headed upstairs towards Chloe’s room, thrilled at the prospect of actually spending some alone time together since the party. Max walked into the room, noticing that Chloe had attempted to clean up, and felt Chloe’s arms move around her waist from behind her and sighed, running her hands over Chloe’s forearms and leaning back into the taller girl.

“So dinner wasn’t so bad,” she said and hummed in appreciation as she felt Chloe pull her hair from the side of her neck before placing a few light kisses on it.

“Hmm,” Chloe responded before placing another kiss on Max’s neck, “was only good because you were there.”

Max felt chills run down her spine as the vibrations of Chloe’s words tingled against her skin and she felt the blue-haired girls hands pull her closer against her. Max moved one hand from Chloe’s forearm and raised it to the side of Chloe’s head as the girl continued kissing and placing soft bites on Max’s neck. She felt Chloe’s fingers stroke up and down her stomach, moving further up with each movement until she was agonizingly close to her chest.

“Bed,” Max gasped out and Chloe obliged, following the girl as she was led to the bed. Max turned around and sat on the edge and Chloe kneeled down at either side of her, cupping the girls face and kissing her deeply. Max moaned in response, pulling the girls beanie off her head so she could run her fingers through her hair. Chloe groaned as she felt Max tug slightly at the back of her hair and she pulled away, motioning for the girl to move back up the bed and lie down before crawling on top of her, supporting her weight so she could drink in the sight of Max lying under her, breathless, flushed and a clear glaze of desire in her eyes.

Chloe watched as Max pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, working it nervously as she gazed up at Chloe. Self-restraint flew out of the window for Chloe at the sight and she forcefully pressed her lips against Max’s, instantly finding contact with her tongue and letting her body rest on top of Max’s as she felt the brunettes hands roam across her sides, her hips and her back. Max gasped as Chloe moved from her mouth to her neck and towards her earlobe, biting and running her tongue across it before whispering into her ear, “Max, I want you so badly.”

Max let out a gutteral moan at the words and she could feel Chloe’s mouth form a smirk against her neck, “Might wanna keep the volume down for the parentals,” Chloe chuckled. 

Max nodded in response and quickly covered her mouth with her hand as she felt Chloe lift her t-shirt up to expose her stomach and moved her head down to kiss it. Chloe laughed as she felt Max’s stomach quiver and she asked, “Ticklish?” as she smiled up at the flustered brunette.

“A little,” Max admitted. 

Chloe moved her mouth further up Max’s abdomen, pushing her t-shirt up as she moved her mouth further up her body, placing a kiss just below her bra, “What about here?” she asked before gazing up at Max. There was a look of want in Chloe’s eyes that Max had never seen before and it made her insides feel like they were on fire.

Max let out a shaky breath, “A little,” she said again.

Chloe hummed in response, moving her mouth further up, stopping to place a few kisses in between Max’s breasts, “What about here?” she breathed out, this time not looking up, instead continuing to kiss across the thin fabric of Max's bra until her mouth reached one the girls hard nipples and she lightly scraped her teeth over it.

Max couldn’t respond, she bit hard on her fingers to stifle the moans, Chloe looked up and the sight made her want to devour Max then and there. She moved her hand up Max’s side, towards Max’s face, resting her palm on the side of it before Max released her own fingers and turned her head, taking a couple of Chloe’s digits in her mouth, sucking and biting them to stifle her noises of pleasure.

Chloe groaned in response and let out a breathy, “Fuck,” before moving her hand down the girls waist and beginning to unbutton Max’s pants. 

The sound of David’s obnoxious laugh from downstairs broke both girls from their stupor and they both froze in place with their eyes wide open. 

Chloe let out a pissed off sigh, “That’s a mood killer huh?”

Max laughed in response and Chloe reluctantly pulled herself off the bed as Max readjusted her t-shirt and bra and attempted to regain her composure. 

“I need to go pee anyway,” Chloe said, “why don’t you put on some tunes? I’ll even let you play some of that hipster shit you like,” she said with a wink and gestured to her laptop. 

“You secretly like my hipster shit,” Max said with a smug grin.

“I’ll never admit to that,” Chloe said, “unless you want to tease it out of me Max?” Chloe asked with a suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows. 

Max responded by balling up Chloe’s beanie and throwing it at her causing the girl to chuckle before leaving the bedroom. When she was gone, Max sat in the chair in front of the laptop, moving the mouse to wake the screen. Chloe’s music library appeared on screen and she moved the mouse to expand the window but accidentally minimized it instead. 

Her eyes quickly scanned over the email that was now displayed on screen: 

_Chloe,_

_Sorry to hear that - would have been great to talk to you and have you on board. I mean it when I say your work really has me intrigued. Let me know if you change your mind?_

_Ron_

Max’s brow furrowed in confusion and she scrolled further down:

_Ron,_

_Thought about what you said on the phone and now’s not a good time to relocate. Don’t want to waste your time by coming in to talk about the apprenticeship._

_Appreciate the offer though dude._

_Chloe_

Max felt her blood run cold as she realized the implications of the email - Chloe had turned down this opportunity for her. She had turned down a fantastic opportunity for Max. She slammed the laptop closed when she heard Chloe leave the bathroom and she moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

“Okay so where were we-” Chloe started and then saw the worried look on Max’s face, "Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked before moving over to sit next to the girl.

Max opened and closed her mouth a few times, internally debating whether to fess up on unintentionally spying, “Uh,” she began, “I just don’t feel so good I guess.”

Chloe rubbed the girls back, her face etched in concern, “Shit, you want me to get you anything?”

Max shook her head, “No, but thank you. Can…can you take me back to the dorms?” Max needed to think, the fact that Chloe had basically just given up her ambitions for her was a very unsettling thought and Max didn’t know how to process it. 

“It’s only seven - are you sure?” Chloe asked, worried about the sudden shift in Max’s demeanor and the brunette nodded in response.

. . . . . .

Chloe shot worried glances to Max who was lost in her thoughts as she stared out of the window of the truck on their way back to the dorms. When they eventually pulled up, Chloe yanked the hand-break on and huffed out in annoyance, “So you gonna tell me what’s really going on?”

Max stared forward in her seat at the dashboard and took a deep breath, “I saw the email.”

Chloe’s brow furrowed in confusion until eventually it dawned on her, “You were reading my emails?”

“No!” Max exclaimed, finally facing the pissed off looking bluenette, “I did it by mistake when I was looking for music and I just saw it.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me instead of pretending to be sick?” 

“I didn’t know what to say - I should have I just...Chloe you can’t do this for me.”

Chloe huffed angrily, her grip tightening on the steering wheel, “Max, it’s my decision okay? This is why I didn’t tell you.” 

“But Chloe-“

“No Max, it’s my choice,” Chloe snapped, and Max was startled at the sudden burst of aggression.

“Chloe,” Max repeated but the girl turned her head out of the window away from her. Max moved her hand to the girls shoulder, placing her fingers lightly on it, “Hey.” 

Chloe snapped her head back, her eyes were shimmering slightly with the sting of tears, “Look Max, can we just not do this right now?” she asked before staring out of the passenger window again.

Max sat, her bottom lip quivering, “Chloe,” she said again but the girl ignored her so she gathered her stuff and slammed passenger the door of the truck behind her before hurriedly moving towards the dorms. 

When Max heard a knock on her door, she opened it instantly, hoping to see her blue haired girlfriend on the other side but was met with the sight of Rachel. 

“Hey Max was just wondering if…what’s wrong? What happened?” Rachel asked with concern before pulling the brunette into a hug. Max responded by sobbing into Rachel’s shoulder.

Rachel sighed, “What did she do?” she asked. 

Max shook her head, “Nothing just-“ Max started as she tried to compose herself, “Ugh it was so stupid!” 

“Tell me everything,” Rachel said before pulling Max over to her couch.

. . . . . . 

Chloe sat in the makeshift cabin in the junkyard, lying on the sofa and lighting her third cigarette in a row. She heard an approaching car and sat up slightly, seeing in the distance a flurry of dirty blonde in cartoon sushi pajamas storming towards her.

“Ah shit,” she said out loud as she saw the fury on Rachel’s face and she quickly flicked her cigarette away, awaiting the onslaught.

Rachel stood over her, her eyes burning with rage. 

“Sup Rach?” Chloe asked nonchalantly.

“You’re a dick,” she stated before moving to slap Chloe’s legs off the other end of the sofa and sitting next to her.

“So you came here to state the obvious?” she asked as she swung her legs around and sat up, resting her elbows on her knees.

“Max is really upset you know,” Rachel continued.

Chloe rubbed her palms across her face, “Fuck don’t tell me that. I was gonna call her, I just - fuck I don’t know what to do Rach.”

“Talk to her.”

“She’s gonna tell me to go for it. Then you know what will happen - I’ll go, she’ll go off to college and we’re fucked,” Chloe let out a deep breath, “I can’t lose her.”

“The only way you’re gonna do that is by acting the way you are right now.”

Chloe nodded in response and Rachel continued, “I mean Chloe, did you think about what is going through Max’s head right now? On top of the idea that you might have to move away, she has to deal with the pressure of being the reason you might stay. It’s pretty much like saying you would want her to do the same thing if she ever had a career opportunity like this.” 

Chloe snapped her eyes up to meet Rachel’s, “I would never let Max do that.”

Rachel looked at her knowingly, “Then why do you think it’s any different for her with you?”

Chloe sighed and leaned back on the chair as the penny dropped, “Okay, I get it, you’re right,” she conceded.

“I am very wise,” Rachel replied as she folded her arms and leaned back against the sofa.

“Yeah,” Chloe said, looking up and down at the girl in her pajamas, “you look really wise right now,” she replied before Rachel punched her in the arm.

. . . . . . 

Max heard the soft knock on her door and opened it, her heart breaking when she saw Chloe’s forlorn expression on the other side.

“Come here,” she said, pulling the blue-haired girl into a hug.

“I’m sorry,” Chloe mumbled into her shoulder, “I’m an asshole.”

“Yeah but you’re my asshole,” Max said with a laugh and felt the girl kiss the side of her cheek and squeeze her tightly against her.

“I don’t deserve you,” Chloe stated.

Max pulled away, taking the girls hands in hers and shrugged, “Probably not,” she said with a smirk.

Chloe laughed in response and pulled the girl back towards her, nearly squeezing the life out of Max. Eventually they pulled away and sat on the bed.

“So-“ Max started, as she idly drew circles with her index finger across the top of Chloe’s hand.

“So,” Chloe repeated, “Max I…I don’t want to lose you. I kinda figured when you went off to College, I would be there. I mean I know it’s stupid to think that far ahead-“

“No,” Max interrupted, “I mean, I’ve thought of that stuff too...but Chloe, this is a really big opportunity for you-“

“I know,” Chloe said, cutting Max off this time. She took a deep breath, “I need to go for it.” 

Max nodded, trying to hold back her tears, “Yeah you do.”

“Hey,” Chloe said, cupping her hands on Max’s face and bringing her eyes up to meet her own, “I am not letting you go no matter what okay? We will make this work.” 

Max nodded again, “I know we will,” she replied, cupping her hands over Chloe’s, “So what happens now?” Max asked.

Chloe sighed, letting their hands fall to Max’s lap, “When I spoke to him on the phone, he wanted me out there for a few days so I could get a feel for the place and he could get a feel for me I guess.”

“When?” Max asked, as she tried to keep her emotions in check.

“In a couple of weeks,” Chloe said, “means I miss the cabin blow-out.”

Max looked up at her, trying to hide the anguish on her face, “Well I’m not going then.” 

“Are you kidding me? Rachel will kill you if you don’t go.”

Chloe pulled the girl closer to her, placing a firm kiss on the side of her head, “It’s only a few days babe,” she said.

Max nodded but deep down she knew it wasn’t just a few days - it was the start of a whole new chapter in Chloe’s life, one that Max would be physically absent from.

. . . . . . 

Several days after a tearful goodbye as Chloe departed to go and discuss her future apprenticeship in LA, Max lay in her room listening to music, used tissues bundled in balls around her. 

She heard a knock at her door and mumbled, “Come in,” from beneath her pillow which was lying across her face.

She heard Rachel huff as she entered the room, “Are you not packed yet?”

“Not going,” Max mumbled again and frowned when Rachel pulled the pillow off of her face.

“Max - you’re not staying here and moping like you have been the last four days since Chloe left. You’re coming to the cabin, exams are over and we are gonna celebrate. Now get your stuff and let’s go!”

Max fiddled with the toggle on her hoodie, “I dunno Rach, I’m really not up for socializing.” 

Rachel sat on the edge of the bed, “Come on Max, Chloe will be back in a few days and she said she wanted you to go and have a good time. I’m not leaving here without you.”

Max eventually dragged her eyes away from her hands to meet Rachel’s unrelenting gaze and sighed, “Okay, I’ll get my stuff,” she conceded. 

. . . . . . 

They arrived at the cabin after a two hour drive and Max stretched as she exited Rachel’s car. Justin and Trevor emerged from the vehicle next to her, unloading kegs from the back of it. 

Rachel handed Max’s bag to her from the boot and stood looking at her expectantly.

“What?” Max asked confused.

“Nothing,” Rachel replied. 

“Okay then,” Max said confused at the girls demeanor as she carried her bag towards the cabin, “Wow Rachel this is beautiful.” 

“Right? Hey, you guys need a hand with that?” Rachel shouted over to Justin and Trevor.

“Nah we’re good,” they responded, hoisting a keg over their shoulders and following the girls towards the entrance.

Rachel unlocked the door and pushed it open, gesturing with her hand for Max to go on inside. 

Max stepped inside the cabin, looking up at the rustic wooden planked ceiling and then taking in the homely feel of the decor around her. She stepped in further, glancing at the large kitchen and then looked over to her right towards the living room before promptly dropping her bag and letting out a shriek.

“Miss me?” Chloe asked, standing in the living room with a smug grin on her face. 

Max bolted from her spot and straight into the arms of the blue haired girl, grasping at her shoulders and pulling her into a kiss. 

“Aww,” Rachel said from the doorway as Justin and Trevor dropped the kegs into the kitchen. 

“Nice,” Justin said as the two girls grew more passionate in their embrace.

Rachel’s face grimaced at the sight, “Okay, let’s leave these two love birds for a moment,” she said as she practically shoved Justin and Trevor out of the door to get more supplies.

Chloe pulled away from Max breathlessly, “I’ll take that as a yes?” she asked and chuckled as Max suddenly frowned and slapped her shoulder.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked with a frown.

Chloe pulled her back into her embrace, “I wanted to surprise you babe, I only got here like thirty minutes ago. I missed you so fucking much.”

“I missed you too,” Max said, resting her head on the girl’s chest and clinging tightly to her, “Hey, how did it go?” she asked.

“Uh,” Chloe started and Max pulled away and looked into her eyes expectantly, “I didn’t get it,” she replied, hoping Max didn’t notice her audible gulp.

“I’m sorry baby,” Max said before placing a quick kiss on her cheek, “they don’t know what they’re missing.”

“Is it safe to come back inside?” Rachel asked as she walked in with a hand over her eyes.

Chloe laughed and grabbed the beer from the table next her, “Okay - now let’s party!” she said as she raised it in the air before taking a large gulp and emitting some whoops and cheers from Justin, Trevor and Rachel. Max still clung to her, staring dreamily up at her.

‘This is definitely the right choice,’ Chloe thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Forgive me fanfic for I have sinned...I am really sorry it's taken me so long to update, but you know, life! Also I was really stuck with this chapter, the next one I am so ready for. Also - I know what you're waiting for (well most of you) and trust me it's coming (no pun intended) Mwahaha. 
> 
> As always thanks for the comments, kudos, you guys are awesome :D Much love and I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will try really hard not to leave it as long for the next one! 
> 
> Also oooh spanner in the works and oooh drama, "I came here for fluff" you cry...it's fine I got you, trust me.


	12. Cabin Fever

Sitting outside the cabin, next to the makeshift campfire, Max looked through the viewfinder as she lined up her shot. As the photo whirred out from the camera she jumped a little in surprise as she heard Chloe’s voice behind her, “I’ve been gone a few days and already you’ve replaced me as your muse?” she asked, feigning annoyance as she sat next to her on the log and wrapped her arm around Max’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, you are still very a-muse-ing,” Max said with a giggle as she put the developing picture in her bag.

Chloe groaned and rolled her eyes, “I forgot how much of a nerd you are.”

Max bumped her shoulder against Chloe, “Shut up, you missed me,” she stated.

“Damn right I did,” Chloe said before kissing the girl, “You having fun? You’re not too cold out here?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine,” she replied, touched by the girls concern, “I just can never get over how many people Rachel knows,” she said as she glanced around the crowd.

“Yeah I guess so, but when I’m with you Max you’re like the only person in the room,” Chloe said with a wink.

Max imitated Chloe’s earlier groan, “And _I’m_ the dork? Plus we’re outside so your cheese doesn’t even make sense.”

Chloe chuckled before putting her beer on the ground and rummaging around in her back pocket, “Well since I’m on a roll here,” she began before locating the object, “this is for you.”

Max’s mouth gaped slightly in surprise as she looked at the small velvet pouch that Chloe produced, “What is it?” she asked as she untied the knot on the pouch.

“Just something I picked up for you on my trip,” Chloe said as she chewed her lip anxiously, waiting for Max’s reaction to her gift.

Max gasped as she pulled out a small silver bracelet, “Oh Chloe, it’s beautiful,” she said as she held out her wrist and draped the bracelet over it as Chloe helped her do up the clasp. Once it was on her wrist she studied the small charms hanging off of it.

“I got a camera charm for it because well, obviously-“ Chloe began.

“Is this a coffee mug?” Max asked.

“Well yeah because we met there,” Chloe said, feeling her face burning with embarrassment at her sappy gift.

“A skateboard?”

“Yeah for that time I tried to break you from your hipster curse,” Chloe said as she took a swig of her beer.

“Popcorn?” Max asked with a giggle, “from your assassination attempt?”

“No!” Chloe protested, “well not _just_ that but also…our first kiss.”

Max paused at the next charm and saw Chloe’s eyes dart nervously from her face to the ground as she toyed with it between her fingers, “and…a heart.”

“Uh yeah because,” Chloe began, lowering her beer to the ground again before rubbing her palms nervously across her jean clad thighs, “well because, you know. I uh-”

“Guys!” Rachel boomed as she approached.

Max sighed at the interruption but did her best to hide her annoyance as she smiled and waved as the girl approached. Rachel’s wobbly footsteps indicated to Max that she was starting to feel the affects of all the alcohol. Chloe rolled her eyes and let out a huff which was a combination of annoyance and relief as she rummaged around the ground through the various bags of snacks by the campfire.

“Hey Rachel, having fun?” Max asked.

“I was until I saw you two party poopers sitting here, what are you doing?”

“Just chilling,” Chloe said, “ooh score!” she exclaimed as she grabbed a bag of marshmallows and ripped it open.

“You know you’re meant to toast them right?” Max asked with a giggle as she watched Chloe grab marshmallows out of the bag she had placed by their feet and ungraciously shove them in her mouth.

“That takes too long,” she mumbled before swallowing.

“Gimmie,” Rachel drunkenly ordered as she sat down next to Chloe, reaching past her to try and grab the bag before Chloe yanked it away out of her reach.

Rachel glared at her for a moment and then smirked before continuing, “Bet I can fit more in my mouth than you,” she said, playing off of Chloe’s competitive nature.

Chloe narrowed her eyes at Rachel for a second before declaring, “Bring it,” and began to stuff marshmallows in her mouth as quickly as possible while Max looked on, shaking her head at the two best friends playful antics. 

Rachel attempted to keep up before laughing so hard she lost her balance and started spitting marshmallows out as she fell off the log backwards, “Okay, okay you win. Uhh I need a drink,” she groaned before crawling up off the grass and back towards the cabin.

Chloe spun her head around to face Max and the brunette laughed out loud at the sight of her with her cheeks puffed up and a smug grin on her face as she gave Max a thumbs up before placing the bag back on the ground.

Max sighed and took a deep breath, watching as the the girl searched the ground around her feet for her forgotten beer before leaning behind the log to try and locate it, “Hey,” Max stated, directing the blue haired girls attention back to her.

Max giggled again at the quizzical look on Chloe’s face as she tried to swallow the large mouthful of marshmallow, “Whamph?” she mumbled.

“I love you,” Max felt the words roll easily off her tongue and her heart hammered in her chest as she waited for Chloe’s reaction.

Chloe’s eyes widened and her whole body remained still for a short time. She eventually shook herself from her stupor and attempted to respond only to curse herself for her earlier childish antics that had stolen the ability of speech from her. Max laughed as Chloe held up a finger indicating to Max to wait one second as she quickly chewed and desperately searched for her beer to wash down her marshmallows.

“Uh I swear why do I even invite him to these things?” Rachel’s voice grumbled from the distance as she planted herself next to Chloe again, “First it’s the vase and now the stag head, I mean seriously that boy drives me crazy,” she said as she took a swig of her drink. 

She looked over and saw Chloe’s eyes burning into her, “What?” she asked.

“You just have the worst timing ever Amber,” Chloe huffed.

Rachel responded by reaching her left arm out and pushing Chloe, laughing as the girl wobbled and eventually lost her balance as she fell back off the log, “Fuck you are so dead!” Chloe shouted as she scrambled off the ground and bolted after the now fleeing Rachel while the sound of Max’s laughter echoed in the distance.

. . . . . . 

“Thanks,” Rachel said as Max handed her a glass of water and took a seat on the sofa opposite her, picking up the blanket from the floor and draping it back over a sleeping Chloe.

“Max why did I drink again? I’m gonna regret this tomorrow,“ Rachel said as she took a sip of her water, “sleeping beauty probably will too.” 

“What time is it?” Max said through a yawn as she pulled her phone out of her pocket, “ugh it’s only one am,” she continued as she glanced out of the open door to the cabin at some of the revelers still in full party mode outside by the campfire, “and the party is still in full swing.” 

“Does this mean we’re getting old?” Rachel asked wide-eyed.

Max laughed and rolled her eyes, “Maybe we’re just burnt out after all the exams?”.

“True,” Rachel said as she stretched herself out, “I’m so glad that’s over with until after Christmas. Are you gonna go home for the holidays?”

“Yeah, I was thinking of asking Chloe to come but I didn’t know what was gonna happen with the job and stuff. Hey, has she said much about her trip to you?”

“Not really, she just told me she was coming back early and when I asked her how it went she said it was ‘fine’, I mean you know Chloe,” Rachel said with a shrug as she tapped the side of her glass with her finger.

“I can’t believe you kept that a secret,” Max said with a fake scowl sent in Rachel’s direction.

“Please, the wrath of Chloe is so much more terrifying than the wrath of Max,” she replied as she stuck out her tongue.

“Amber! Get your ass up, you’re not bailing on us this early!” Justin boomed as he entered the cabin and began hauling the girl off of the sofa.

“Huh?” Chloe asked bewildered as she sat halfway up, one eye open as she scanned the room.

“It’s okay babe, go back to sleep,” Max cooed as she rubbed the girls leg.

Chloe yawned and stretched, “No…” she began before flopping over, her head resting on the brunettes shoulder, “party,” she continued before drifting back off to sleep.

Max laughed and patted the girls leg to wake her, “Come on, bed.”

“Ooh kinky,” Chloe mumbled and Max shook her head as she helped the girl to her feet before walking her to the bedroom Rachel had reserved for them for the evening. 

Once inside Chloe quickly stripped down to her underwear and crawled into the bed. Max openly started at the blue haired girl who eventually noticed and sent a sleepy smug grin her way, “Like something you see?” she asked.

“Even half asleep you’re still a perv,” she said before closing the door behind her and stripping down to her underwear, placing her phone on the bedside table and scooting in under the covers next to the bluenette who threw an arm around her and nuzzled her head into her shoulder.

Max ran her fingers lightly up and down the length of Chloe’s arm, “Max?” Chloe asked.

“Hmm,” Max said, her eyelids feeling heavy as sleep began to envelop her.

“I love you,” Chloe stated and Max felt her heart race as she squeezed the girl close to her and placed a kiss on her forehead. She heard Chloe’s breathing become shallower and she soon joined the girl fast asleep.

. . . . . . 

A loud crash and a chorus of laughter woke Max with a start. She pulled her phone from the beside table and checked the time - it was a little past three thirty and the party was obviously still going strong. She groaned and placed her phone back down before closing her eyes.

Chloe was still draped across her upper body, one arm was across her chest and her hand was resting on Max’s shoulder. She felt Chloe stir next to her and smiled as she felt the blue haired girls lips press a light kiss against her neck. She hummed at the contact and felt Chloe press another slightly firmer kiss against her neck causing Max to release another noise of approval, urging Chloe to continue as she felt the girls hand move across her shoulder to her face and lightly graze her thumb across Max’s cheek.

Max began to feel a tightening sensation in her body, a growing need forming inside her as Chloe continued to travel her lips up Max’s neck. Her mouth parted slightly and she gasped when she felt the blue haired girl lightly brush her tongue across the soft skin and she felt Chloe breathing heavily against her neck, indicating to Max that Chloe’s own desire had began to increase. Chloe moved so she was lying on top of Max but she continued traveling her lips up the brunettes neck. 

Max ran her hands up Chloe’s sides, resting them on her back as Chloe’s mouth moved from her neck, across her jaw and finally she brushed her lips lightly against Max’s. Max sighed at the contact and opened her eyes, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of Chloe above her, her beautiful features making Max’s heart ache. As she gazed at her in the dimly lit room Chloe gazed back down with complete adoration and love. 

Max felt tears spring in her eyes and Chloe leaned in, deepening her feather light kisses. Max moaned and breathed out heavily as she felt Chloe’s tongue sweep across her own. She ran her hands up to the back of Chloe’s head, tangling her fingers in her hair as their kissing grew more passionate, their mouths parted and they could hear their heavy breathing and quiet moans echoing across the room. 

Max felt Chloe’s fingers graze her stomach as she slid her hand up it towards her chest. She gasped as she felt Chloe’s hand slide under her bra and her fingertips grazed her hardened nipple before lightly rolling it between her thumb and forefinger. 

“Chloe-“ she breathed out in ecstasy when their lips parted for a split second, emitting a groan from the blue haired girl who pressed her lips more firmly against her mouth in response. 

Chloe leaned back on her knees and Max watched as Chloe unhooked her own bra and slipped it off her arms before tossing it to the floor. She looked at Max expectantly who was still openly gaping at the beautiful slight of Chloe half naked in front of her. Max leaned up slightly, unhooking her own bra as she bit her lip nervously, attempting to cover her chest with her arm as she threw her bra off the side of the bed.

Chloe leaned back down, kissing the brunette and moving her arm away from her chest, “You are beautiful,” Chloe said as she began kissing down Max’s neck towards her chest. As the realization set in that this was actually about to happen, they were actually going to do this, Max wondered if Chloe could feel the vibration of her heart hammering in her chest against her lips which were moving further and further down Max’s body.

Max gasped as she felt Chloe envelop one of her nipples in her mouth and lightly suck it before flicking her tongue across it as her thumb and forefinger teased the other. Max responded by tightening her grip in the girls hair and arching her back. Chloe’s head moved back up towards Max’s face as she kissed her lips again breathing, “I love you, I love you, I love you” into Max’s mouth. Max felt tears stream down her cheeks at Chloe’s words and felt Chloe brush them away with her thumbs. 

Chloe’s hands moved from Max's face as they continued their heated kissing and the girl adjusted her body so she was leaning her weight to the side, resting on her forearm. Max gasped as Chloe’s drew the fingers of her other hand down the length of her body, coming to rest on Max’s hip. Her fingers began trailing along the waist band of Max’s underwear, teasing Max who was now moaning and gasping against her mouth. Eventually Chloe slipped her fingers behind the waist band before pulling at the side of her underwear.

“Can I-“ Chloe started as she began pulling down the underwear slightly and Max nodded vigorously. 

“Please,” Max breathed out and caught the smug grin and the twinkle in Chloe’s eye at her words.

She felt Chloe pull her underwear down and she kicked them off her feet before the blue haired girl returned to her previous position, placing a loving kiss on Max’s lips as she trailed her fingers across the girls thighs. Max bit her lip and squirmed underneath Chloe’s movements as the teasing continued. She heard Chloe chuckle as Max inadvertently let out noise of annoyance as she grew increasingly frustrated.

Suddenly Max’s eyes sprang open wide as she felt one of Chloe’s fingers trail over her clit lightly and she gasped at the contact and breathed out Chloe’s name. Chloe’s lips moved from her mouth back towards her neck, the weight of her body pressed against Max as she continued her movements over Max’s throbbing bundle of nerves, gradually quickening the pace and moaning herself at the wetness under her fingers, “Fuck Max,” she breathed against the girl’s neck.

“Oh. My. God-“ Max breathed out between moans, this was more incredible than she had expected, she was not in control of her words or her actions as her hands blindly grabbed at Chloe’s back and hair. She moved one hand towards Chloe’s hip and Chloe changed her position, lifting her body up so the Max could graze her fingers across Chloe’s inner thigh. 

Chloe moved her mouth to Max’s as she felt the girls trembling fingers move towards her underwear and sensing her hesitation she stopped her motions, chuckling at the squeak of disappointment that escaped Max’s lips as she moved to pull off her own underwear. She returned to her position above Max and wrapping her fingers lightly around Max’s wrist, guided the girls hand to the place she needed it the most. Chloe groaned and gasped at the contact and Max’s pupils dilated with desire at the sight of Chloe moaning above her as she grew bolder, using what she knew worked on herself to please her beautiful girlfriend. 

Kissing became nearly impossible when Chloe continued circling her fingers over Max’s clit and Max tried desperately to concentrate on her own actions, feeling herself growing closer and closer to bliss as she was overwhelmed with the sounds and feeling of Chloe moaning into her mouth as their tongues wildly danced against each other. 

Chloe buried her head in Max’s shoulder, grinding her hips against Max’s hand, “Fuck Max-“ she moaned into the brunettes ear, “you have no…fuck…idea how long I’ve wanted…fuck”

“Oh I,” Max began and she gasped again as she felt Chloe’s teeth graze her neck, “think I do…Chloe, I need…”

Chloe stopped her motions and Max could feel the smirk on her lips against her cheek as she asked, “Need what? Tell me what you need baby.”

Max felt her cheeks flare with a blush as she willed the words out of her mouth, “Mmm inside…I need…”

Chloe adjusted her position, crashing her lips against Max’s again as she dipped her fingers lower and gently slipped one inside Max and then another. Chloe felt Max let out a sharp breath against her mouth as she adjusted to the new sensation. Chloe moved inside of her slowly before searching out her G spot and then driving Max crazy as she moved her skilled fingers inside her, continuously circling her fingers around it. 

Chloe felt both of Max’s hands grab her back, her nails digging in slightly causing Chloe to groan into her mouth and quicken her pace, moving faster and deeper inside Max as the girls moans increased. Through labored breaths Chloe asked, “Are you okay?” the last thing Chloe wanted was to hurt this beautiful woman beneath her and she was doing her best to be as gentle as she could despite her overwhelming desire for the brunette.

“Yes!” Max confirmed and she would have been embarrassed about her volume control in that moment but all she could think about was the feeling of Chloe moving inside her, “Oh my god yes,” she reaffirmed.

Chloe smiled against Max’s mouth, opening her eyes and drawing in the sight of Max in delirious ecstasy as she brushed her thumb over the girl’s clit. She felt Max’s leg’s tremble and felt her tighten around her fingers. Max felt Chloe’s mouth on her lips, her neck, her cheek as she felt her climax build and then engulf her. As the world felt like it crashed around her she could hear Chloe in her ear, “Fuck I love you, oh my god,” Chloe said as Max rode the waves of her orgasm before collapsing on the bed, trembling, sweating and unable to form a sentence.

Chloe leaned on the bed, propping her head up on one hand as she trailed her fingers across Max’s chest, “You okay babe?” she asked before placing a light kiss on the girls collarbone.

“Mmhmm,” Max responded, “Wow,” Max continued as she blinked several times, trying to return her focus, “Well that was…unexpected.”

Chloe quirked an eyebrow, “Uh well Max I don’t know what you think we’ve been trying to do up until now but-”

Max laughed, “You know what I mean!”

Chloe smirked, “Yeah I know, it was unexpected but completely overdue.”

Max rolled over onto her side and kissed Chloe, “Agreed.”

Chloe deepened the kiss, running her hand through Max’s hair and pulling the girl as close as she could against her lips. Max’s tongue sought out Chloe’s as her fingers brushed down the girls side, coming to rest on her hip and then hesitating before she asked, “Uh, can I?”

“Fuck yes,” Chloe responded as she moved one leg, exposing herself for Max as the girl moved her fingers towards Chloe’s aching and soaking wet need. Max gasped at how wet Chloe was and felt the girl’s grip tighten in her hair as she brushed her fingers over her clit and Chloe moaned loudly into her mouth. Max felt Chloe’s hand trembling against the back of Max’s head and Max knew that the girl must be close. She quickened her pace and watched the girl’s face as it contorted in pure ecstasy.

Max kept her hand in place as she rolled the girl over so she was on top of her and Chloe’s hands moved from her hair, trailing her nails down her back and Max chuckled as she felt Chloe grab her ass - hard. Max kissed her way across Chloe’s cheek, towards her ear before whispering, “I love you so much,” and as she kissed her way back towards Chloe’s mouth, she could feel tears beneath her lips. 

Chloe’s legs began shaking as she reached climax and Max pressed her lips firmly against hers as the girl came. She could feel Chloe’s sharp release of breath from her nose against her cheek as the girl gripped tightly to her body. Chloe’s grip on Max didn’t loosen for several minutes after she had recovered from her climax and eventually Max pulled herself away to look at the girl. 

Chloe turned her head away causing Max’s brow to furrow in concern, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Chloe said as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, “nothing honestly, that was amazing,” Chloe said, still avoiding eye contact with Max.

“Chloe,” Max said, trying to pull the arm away from Chloe’s eyes, “look at me.”

Chloe sighed before turning her head, allowing Max to see the tears that she couldn’t control streaming from her eyes, “I’m not crying,” she said. 

Max giggled before kissing the blue haired girl, “Of course not,” she said as she pulled away.

Chloe sighed and reached up, grazing her fingers down the brunettes cheek, “How did I get so lucky?”

Max shrugged, “I don’t know, I am pretty fantastic,” she said with a giggle as she lowered her head to rest on Chloe’s chest. 

Chloe chuckled, “I think I’m rubbing off on you,” she said as she kissed the top of Max’s head.

“You did not just say that,” Max said. 

Chloe let out a loud laugh, “See what I mean? Now you’re the one ruining romantic moments.”

Max kissed the centre of Chloe’s chest, “I love you,” she said before resting her head back down again, her eyelids feeling heavy as she struggled to stay awake.

“I love you more,” Chloe said as she yawned loudly.

“Nope,” Max mumbled.

“Mmhmm,” Chloe responded as she closed her eyes and sleep took both of the girls over.

. . . . . . 

Max groaned as the alarm from her phone blared through the morning stillness. She fumbled around on the bedside table, her eyes still shut as she attempted to locate the offending object. Finding it she squinted one eye open and turned it off, quickly returning to her position in Chloe’s arms.

Chloe yawned next to her and mumbled out, “You set an alarm on a Saturday?”

“I forgot to turn it off,” Max grumbled, “go back to sleep.”

Chloe turned on her side, running her hand down Max’s waist to rest on her hip as she started kissing her freckled shoulder, “Hmm how can I when you’re here next to me…totally naked by the way.”

Max had an instant where she wanted to cover herself up but it quickly dissipated, “Chloe we must have had like four hours sleep tops,” she grumbled.

“No rest for the wicked,” Chloe said as she moved her hand from Max’s hip round to her ass and gave it a firm squeeze.

Max giggled, “You’re insatiable.”

“If that means hella horny, then yes,” Chloe said as she bit Max’s shoulder playfully.

“Well since you’re awake…” Max trailed off and Chloe looked at her with a look of devilish excitement in her eyes, “I’m thirsty.”

Chloe’s expression quickly shifted to a pout causing Max to laugh, “Fine,” Chloe huffed out, “I suppose I’ll go be your knight in shining armor and get you some water,” she said as she rolled off the bed, trying to locate her clothes on the floor, “but I expect to be rewarded,” she said with a wink as she pulled her shirt over her head.

Max bit her lip as she raked her eyes over Chloe’s naked body, “I think that can be arranged,” she giggled as Chloe stared back wide eyed and then hurried in her efforts to locate her pants.

The glint of silver on her wrist caught Max’s eye and she drew her knees up to her chest as she studied the bracelet on her wrist, “Hey Chloe? You know how the holidays are coming up?”

“Uh yeah Max,” Chloe replied distracted as she searched out her pants in the dim lit room.

“Well I was wondering,” Max started, “and I know you probably have plans but if you wanted we could maybe spend Christmas together?”

Chloe shook out the legs of her balled up pants she had finally located and snapped her eyes up to meet Max as she stepped one leg into them, “Are you kidding? Of course I want to spend Christmas with you!”

“Really?” Max replied excited as she watched Chloe peel one leg of her skinny jeans up her leg, “I thought you might be a bit, I dunno, nervous about the idea because, you know, the whole meeting the parents thing.”

“Nah why would I-“ Chloe said as she balanced on one leg and then her eyes went wide with realization, “Wait - your parents?!” 

Max grimaced as the blue-haired girl inevitably lost her footing and crashed to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I've been a while with this update and this chapter was a lot shorter than my usual but I really wanted to focus on this important part in the development of their relationship. I promise some more plot filled goodness will be coming soon I will try not to leave it as long next time.
> 
> Thank you so much for all your kind words of support in the comments and the messages on Tumblr, you guys are the greatest people ever :D 
> 
> A few people have asked if I would ever diverge into AmberPrice because of this upcoming sequel (which btw so excited omg) but to be honest I can't see it happening - I am pretty much PriceField for life...but never say never :D 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always any feedback is greatly appreciated. 
> 
> Much love to you all xxx


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